The Economy is Now the #1 Issue for Voters from Both Parties

(One way to look at this is the class war finally hits home. – promoted by Magnifico)

The Republicans can feel our pain! Finally, we have something emotional to share with them. Something that can bring us together as a nation. [They still don’t care about all the Iraqi citizens we killed by invading their nation; nor do they care much about the beautiful and ancient country that we destroyed.]

But they DO care about themselves and their pocketbooks. Hey, it’s a start.

And right on schedule. I predicted, starting in January and enduring throughout 2008, the Economy and its little sisters:  Health Care, Wages, and Inflation will become the topic of the year for everyday Americans. And not just for the middle class (who are now the “new poor,” of course). The pain will be felt most sharply by the upper-middle class, who are likely to tumble faster and further. This one transcends political affiliation.

I am not predicting an economic collapse in 2008. Believe me, there is much manipulation going on among the world’s central banks to keep the overall US economy stable — at least at the asset-value level (sans homeowner-type real estate). The plunge of the Dollar may actually level out a bit, despite the dismal reality-based fundamentals. And that will happen by design. The Plutocrats have some control over the economic buoyancy of the US — and they’ve got all their fingers in the dyke, standing firm to gain Republican electoral traction until after November 2008. Meanwhile, they continue to move all of their wealth offshore as fast as they can. But more on that another time…

My Starbucks Manager friend dropped by after Christmas, and I asked him how he thought retail sales did this year. He said, “Who knows? January is the new December.” He went on to explain that they sold merchandise so far below cost in December — as did every other retailer in the mall — that they (and Wall Street) won’t know, until January, just how much money retailers lost boosting “holiday sales.”

But enough about numbers that are coming down the pike. Let’s take a look at the current AP article along with poll results identifying voter concerns for Election 2008. (Hint: Move over Iraq.)

Pocketbook Worries Outweigh Voters’ Concerns over War in Iraq

Kitchen table worries pushed ahead of the war in Iraq over the past month, a shift toward pocketbook issues that has gained currency as the election year dawns.

More than half the voters in an ongoing survey for The Associated Press and Yahoo News say the economy and health care are extremely important to them personally. They fear they will face unexpected medical expenses, their homes will lose value or mortgage and credit card payments will overwhelm them.

The article is based on a continuous survey of more than 1,800 people. The ongoing project is designed to track changes in public attitudes as the presidential campaign unfolds. The first poll was last month and set the base line to measure national sentiment. You’ll find more on the poll itself at the bottom.

Consider Linda Zimmerman, a 50-year-old sheep farmer from Thurmont, Md. Her daughter and son-in-law are having trouble keeping up with two mortgages on a town house, she said. One street in her neighborhood has five homes for sale, and one has been on the market for two years.

Registered as a Republican, she’s ready to reconsider.

“We’re Republicans and I’m very unhappy with them, and I’ve been watching the Democrats,” she said. “We did better when (Bill) Clinton was in than we did with Bush. It’s just terrible.”

The Democratic edge on such issues illustrates the predicament Republicans face going into a presidential election. Iraq doesn’t dominate the news as it used to, replaced by headlines about slumping home sales, high gasoline prices and a credit crunch.

As we know, candidates are hitting domestic topics hard on the campaign trail. But on a couple of BIG issues, Democrats have the edge and the talking points:

“A Complete Change of Direction” and “A National Health Care System.”

And Republican voters are paying attention.

Bill Hine, a 65-year-old Vietnam veteran from Warrenton, Va., considers himself a “soft Republican” who is partial to John McCain. But the nation’s health system needs fixing, he said, and he’s not happy with what he’s hearing.

“A lot of Republicans are just anti-anything, anti-changing anything, and that’s one of the things I’ll be looking at,” he said.

“Middle-class America is being chipped away at,” said Edward Lemieux, a 57-year-old pattern maker from North Smithfield, R.I., who plans to support Obama for president.

His view is influenced by the flight of manufacturing jobs from his state, by the “For Sale” signs that outnumber the “Sold” signs on neighborhood lawns and by his mother’s health care needs.

“We’re all of a sudden becoming a country of rich and poor,” he said. “The middle class is eroding.”

While most folks project their fears on Health Care issues — the fact is, they have yet to face the financial impact of rising fuel prices that’s about to hit them in February. Even worse, the cost of food will spike month over month in 2008.

Still, people will probably cope for awhile as long as unemployment stays low — a risky and tricky bet at the moment. In any event, the Republican candidates still haven’t addressed the “Economy” issue. They’re preoccupied with deporting Mexicans and chasing “terrorists” all over the planet. For now.

Lynn Haynes, 42, of Huntington, W.Va., works in the state government’s welfare department where she sees clients who can’t afford health care. What’s more, she has a 35-year-old sister who is developmentally delayed and “falls into the cracks” of government assistance programs. She’s a registered Republican, likes Giuliani but supports universal health care and is giving Democrats a hard look.

“I see too many people at work especially who just don’t get any health care,” Haynes said. “I look at what they get for retirement and Social Security, and I don’t see how they live on that and afford their prescriptions.”

The Poll used in this article is an interesting one. It is an “ongoing” poll, based on issues rated as “extremely important” by voters during 2008 up to the election. For more information, see AP/Yahoo!Election Issues Poll.

At this point — it’s ours to lose, folks.

What say you?

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Crossposted at Daily Kos