3.23.19 What Do Voters Really Want?
| What Do Voters Really Want? “Indeed, what voters say they value can change depending on which way the political winds are blowing,” writesNathaniel Rakich in FiveThirtyEight. Rakich talks about a new poll by Morning Consult measuring registered Democratic voters attitudes on candidate characteristics (age, experience, race) as well as support for specific candidates. When these different responses were compared to each other, they appeared contradictory. For example, two-thirds of respondents said it was important for the nominee to have decades of political experience while another 61 percent said it was at least somewhat important for the nominee to be under the age of 70. Rakich argues that this points to how tenuous voter preference can be. Examining white evangelicals, Rakich says: “In a 2011 poll from PRRI, just 30 percent of them agreed with the statement that ‘an elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life.’ In 2016, that had shot up to 72 percent.” |
| The Equality Act Faces Obstacles“Polls show that most Americans oppose discrimination against LGBT people, and many believe that it’s already illegal. But federal laws don’t ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity the way they do regarding sex and religion. And the odds of Congress changing that in the immediate future are slim,” writes Katy Steinmetz in Time Magazine. Although state courts have carved out some protections for LGBT Americans, attempts for national protections may be harder to achieve. The Equality Act will likely pass the Democratic-controlled House, political analysts believe, but it’s less likely the bill will pass in a Republican majority Senate. Steinmetz points out that “A recent survey from non-partisan research organization PRRI found that 69% of Americans are in favor of laws that protect all LGBT people from discrimination, including a majority in every state.” More Californians Participating in the Gig Economy I n a 2018 survey of Californians, PRRI found that more than one in 10 (11 percent) of Californians participated in some aspect of the gig economy. Be it Uber, Postmates, or Handy; many Californians are finding extra work and extra money where they can. Scott Rodd, writing in Stateline, examines the rise of the gig economy. Rodd cites PRRI’s 2018 California survey which shows that 48 percent of Californians who do participate in the gig economy are considered impoverished. Similarly, workers struggling with poverty are more likely than to report having participated in the gig economy in the last year versus workers not struggling with poverty (17 percent vs. 9 percent). The same survey found that younger Californians are flocking to gig work. Twenty-one percent of Californians ages 18-29 report higher rates of gig work in the last year. |