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Since the men running this country are having such a hard time acting presidential in the final days of Election '06 and gleeful reporters aren't helping, I'm relieved to read leading indicators this morning that voters, particularly women voters, have adopted priorities more appropriate to a country at war.
According to two new polls released yesterday, no amount of partisan rhetoric by Republican President Bush or the Democrats' 2004 candidate, Sen. John Kerry, can obfuscate an issue that preoccupies American voters as they head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7: The war in Iraq. Last night, the New York Times and CBS released their final pre-ballot poll, Iraq War Frames ’06 Vote in Last Poll Before Election:
The poll underlined the extent to which the war has framed the midterm elections. Americans cited Iraq as the most important issue affecting their vote, and majorities of Republicans and Democrats said they wanted a change in the government’s approach to the war."
The poll results (read the pdf document here) are going to be hard for Democrats or Republicans to dismiss as the work of elite liberal journalists, given the spanking that its 932 respondents who are registered voters gave both parties:
"Coming at the conclusion of a contentious midterm campaign, voters said that neither Democrats nor Republican had offered a plan for governing should they win on Tuesday, the poll found. Yet Americans have some clear notions of how government might change if Democrats win control of Congress: Beyond a quicker exit from Iraq, respondents said they thought a Democratic Congress would be more likely to increase the minimum wage, hold down rapidly rising health and prescription drugs costs, improve the economy and — as Republicans have said frequently in these closing days of the campaign — raise taxes.
"By a slight margin, more respondents said the threat of terrorism would increase under Republicans than those who said it would increase under Democrats." More here.
Now, Tuesday isn't a direct vote on Iraq. The 50 wildly different state ballots that voters will punch, check and type on next Tuesday are an amalgam of exquisitely local issues and Senate and House contests that could could reverse Republican control of the United States Congress. In every context, according to a new poll by the National Council for Research on Women, female voters are adopting a global mindset.
According to "New Poll: Women Voters Will Say ‘Yes’ to Candidates Who Say ‘No to Iraq', the war in Iraq infuses the voter debate in every region of the country and is a primary concern among the majority of voters: Women.
When asked if they would be "more likely to vote for a candidate for Congress who favors withdrawing troops from Iraq within the next 12 months, less likely to vote for this candidate or would it not make a difference to you either way?" women told NCRW pollsters:
" 'This is across the board, in every section of the country, in cities and rural areas, across racial divides, American women say they're ready to vote for get-out-of-Iraq candidates against stay-in-Iraq candidates, with a three to one preference for candidates who want to get the troops out of Iraq over those who want to keep the troops there...This isn't just in a few blue states," [NCRW President Linda] Basch said. 'Candidates in every region will do better by calling for bringing the troops home than by advocating for staying the course. In the South-among all voters, women and men, it's a two-to-one margin for the peace candidates. Even in the West, the margin is 51 to 30. In the Northeast, the margin is three to one for bringing the troops home.' " More here.
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As you may be able to tell, I'm fed up with horserace behavior and rhetoric myself, on the heels of the month with the largest death toll of American troops. I have to agree with Gen. Wesley Clark's piece on HuffPo: We owe it to our troops to return to the real issue of the election. The American public should simply accept no distractions."
I'd love to know what you all think -- with the amazing diversity of issues on every state's ballot:
--> is Iraq on your mind as you go to the polls, no matter what your party?
--> How about those of you who aren't American - what are you thinking if you're watching this election?
Thanks...
When Lisa Stone
