by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers
A Country Calling For Change
Across the country today, a
record
number of Americans are expected
to cast ballots to elect the next
president of the United States, ending what has been called "one
of the most extraordinary presidential elections
in this nation's
232-year history." As the nation waits to see who will
succeed President Bush, Americans are yearning for a dramatic change in
direction. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that "a
record 89 percent of Americans
now say the country has pretty
seriously gotten off on the wrong track." In a Gallup poll out today,
92 percent of of registered voters agreed with the statement
that "the
stakes in this
presidential election are higher
than in previous years." Though
they offer two very different visions of where America should go in the
next four years, both of the major presidential candidates, Sens.
Barack
Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ), argue
that they represent the change
that America needs. "Change
is
coming," declares McCain, while
Obama talks about "the
change we need." As is to be
expected, Americans disagree on the
exact nature of the change they believe would most benefit the country,
but overwhelmingly they are looking for a dramatic departure from
President
Bush's America. In December 2007, Democratic pollster
Peter Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff
surveyed whether Americans were looking for "small adjustments," "to
turn the page," or to start "a brand new book." Respondents
preferred "a brand new book" by
a margin of 17 percentage points
over "turn the page," and 22 percentage points over "small
adjustments."
Now, that book will begin to
be written.
THE
ECONOMY IS THE PRIORITY:
Exit polls after the 2004 election found that Americans
were split
over what issues were most important to them. Twenty-two percent said
"moral
values," 20 percent said the economy and jobs, and 19 percent said
"terrorism." But in 2008, the economy is far and away the top issue on
voters' minds. According to Gallup, 55
percent of Americans say that
"the candidates' positions on the
economy, more than any other
issue, are extremely important in influencing their vote for
president." In fact, the 55 percent of Americans who rate the economy
as "extremely important" to their vote "is the
highest Gallup has found for any issue
in the last four
presidential election years." Gallup's findings are not an outlier. In
nearly every
major poll that has been
released recently, the economy is the most
important issue for the majority of Americans. With every state in
America except for Alaska either
in a recession or on the brink of one,
Americans have good reason
to focus on the economy.
BETTER
THAN BEFORE?: In a new memo,
the Center for American Progress Action Fund asks whether Americans are
"better
off today than they were eight
years ago." By a number of metrics,
the clear answer is that Americans are not better off after eight years
of conservative policies. Job
growth has lagged behind population growth,
with the number of jobs
rising by just over 2 percent from 2001-2008. In contrast, the number
of jobs rose by over 21 percent from 1993-2001. Middle-class Americans
have seen their incomes drop as the typical American household earned
0.6 percent less after inflation in 2007 than they did in 2000. At the
same time, income disparity has grown. Though household income grew by
$863 billion from 2002-2006, 72 percent of it went to the top 1 percent
of wealthiest Americans while only 5 percent went to the bottom 90
percent. The misery index, which is the sum of the unemployment rate
and the rate of inflation, is the
highest it has been since the early 1990s,
rising from 7.93
percent in January 2001 to 11.04
percent in September 2008. Over
the past eight years, the number of families
living in poverty has doubled,
rising to 13.3 million in 2007.
PATH
TO PROGRESSIVE CHANGE:
The Center for
American
Progress has laid out a number
of progressive priorities on which
the
next administration, whoever it may be, should concentrate. At the
same time, CAP has outlined practical pathways towards enacting
effective progressive policies. In November 2007, the Center released a
new national economic strategy for progressive growth
that called
for transforming America's economy through clean energy, innovation,
and
opportunity. One of the cornerstones of CAP's vision for the economic
revitalization of America is "a
strategy to invest in the greening of our economy"
that will
provide more and better jobs. For years now, CAP has been arguing for
universal health care, providing progressive
prescriptions for guaranteeing
an American right to affordable,
quality health care coverage. While the economy is issue number one in
America today, the need to restore America's global leadership is also
imperative. From a plan to safely
redeploy the American military out
of Iraq to
how to close Guantanamo Bay, the
Center for American Progress has
laid
out a map for restoring America's global image after eight years
of the Bush administration. The election of a new president, no matter
who it is, offers an opportunity to work towards implementing
progressive change.
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"[O]ne-third of voters said the 2008 presidential election has made them 'more proud' to be an American."
THINK
PROGRESS: Fox News's Megyn Kelly
upset that no criminal prosecutors
will be at polls: Justice Department "leans left."
WONK
ROOM: To cover or not to cover:
Health care ballot initiatives.
YGLESIAS:
CNN wants its viewers to be misinformed.
EZRA
KLEIN: How long voting lines are
just another form of poll tax.
CALIFORNIA:
"After the most expensive campaign in state history over a social
issue, Californians are poised to begin voting Tuesday on the divisive
and deeply emotional issue of same-sex marriage."
MASSACHUSETTS:
"Voters in
Massachusetts cities and towns have rejected nearly two-thirds of
property tax overrides so far this year."
VIRGINIA:
"A federal judge refused to order last-minute changes to Virginia's
voting procedures in response to allegations by the NAACP that the
state is not prepared to handle the predicted historic voter turnout."
"I'm
proud to stand with John McCain."
--
Gov. Charlie Crist
(R-FL) 10/15/08
VERSUS
"Republican Gov. Crist, who had previously agreed to do interviews with
CNN and various local affiliates, bolted right after the [McCain] rally
with no explanation."
-- CNN, 11/03/08
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