Menu
- Deadly rural roads and securing a safe ride home (12/17/24)
- The fall of Assad: A sobering lesson in pragmatism (12/13/24)
- Finding transparency in TEEOSA (12/12/24)
- In with a heavy hand, and out with a whisper (12/10/24)
- Applauding leadership that listens: a triumph for local representation (12/6/24)
- Are elected officials above the law? (12/4/24)
- Shopping tips to reduce holiday stress (11/29/24)
Editorial
Will Americans hear real issues or will circus continue?
Monday, September 26, 2016
The chances of anyone "winning" tonight's presidential campaign are extremely thin, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
At best, performances by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will make most of their supporters feel less negative about their candidate.
Three-fourths of us are frustrated and more than half say the campaign is making them feel angry or helpless. Two-thirds don't think the campaign is addressing important topics, only 40 percent are hopeful, a quarter are excited and less than two in 10 say they are proud.
The circus-like atmosphere of this year's campaign has eliminated one problem, apathy. Some 86 percent of us are paying at least some attention to the race.
So what would we like to see Clinton and Trump discuss?
For Republicans, terrorism and national security, economic growth and taxes are important for at least 80 percent of them.
The same portion of Democrats thinks health care, education and Social Security should receive more attention.
Voters of both parties have found some topics of agreement; nearly two-thirds say the campaign focuses too little on the issues that matter most to them personally, more than half say there's too little focus on the candidates' qualifications and more than half of Americans said the campaign is focused too much on the personal characteristics of the candidates.
Overall, health care is the top issue of concern for 81 percent of Americans, with similar rates for Social Security, education, terrorism and homeland security.
Next come crime and economic growth, poverty and taxes. Immigration is rated as important for 61 percent of voters.
Tonight's performance will prove to voters whether either candidate is willing to campaign on the real issues or content to allow this important process to degenerate into just another reality show for the American public.
Read the original report here: http://bit.ly/2ddsZeF