THANKS TO OBAMA, TERROR POLICY HIGH ON VOTERS' LIST OF CONCERNS
ISIS as 'JV squad' leads list of 2016 issues of importance
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Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of reports on the polling by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio, for WND.com.
Barack Obama said at a point when ISIS was surging in power and influence, killing Christians in recorded beheadings and generally imposing Islam’s Shariah law on more and more unwilling people, “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.”
Now voters across the United States are saying that with Obama in the final months of his presidency, a presidential candidate’s ideas on terrorism and national security are very – even extremely – important to them.
It’s the leading topic among six priorities that voters have told a pollster are of the highest importance.
The results are from a new WND/Clout poll by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio. The telephone survey of registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.15 percentage points.
The poll asked a series of questions on how important various issues are to voters.
On the topic of “terrorism and national security,” 75 percent of the respondents said it was “extremely important.”
Among the GOP, nearly 86 percent identified it that way, and for both independents and Democrats, about 66 percent identified terrorism policy that way.
“When you look at the typical issue landscape for a national election in America, there are usually one or two that stand head and shoulders above the rest,” said Clout Research chief Fritz Wenzel.
“These are the couple of issues that dominate the discussion and determine who will win the election. But this election cycle, there are six issues that are considered either very important or extremely important to more than 80 percent of the national electorate.
“This is highly unusual, and I think speaks to the concern that Americans have over many parts of society,” he said. “At the top of the list is terrorism and national security, as 85 percent of Americans cite that as a top concern. Interestingly, while 86 percent of Republicans said it is very or extremely important, only 66 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of independents said it was extremely important.”
He continued, “Women were much more likely than men to consider it extremely important.”
“Related issues that also cited as top issues were foreign policy and immigration. The other area of interest to voters was the economic situation of the country, as they cited the national debt, taxes, and health care as very or extremely important,” Wenzel said.
In fact, more than 68 percent of respondents cited the candidate’s ideas on the economy and jobs as extremely important, 69 percent cited the candidate’s ideas on taxes, 71 percent cited ideas on health care, 69 percent cited foreign policy, 71 percent cited immigration and nearly 69 percent gun policy.
At the other end of the scale is one of the items cited by Obama as the highest priority for America – climate change.
Only 36 percent said that was extremely important – while about 39 percent said it was not at all important or not significantly important.
“What this means is, barring unforeseen developments involving the candidates directly – which always plays a part in a presidential race, the electorate will be sliced and diced like never before as candidates try to play on different issues with different factions of voters,” Wenzel said.
“But the overriding theme will be government incompetence, and it will be a powerful theme. The candidate who positions themselves as an outsider with solutions will win the day,” he said.
He noted that will be the same for congressional races around the country, where, “Incumbents will be on the hot seat everywhere – with Democrats being a little more endangered than Republicans because they will be seen as the party in power.”
“What is interesting in this survey is what is not considered an important issue in the current political cycle – the environment. It scored lowest of all 15 issues tested, as just 45 percent said it was very or extremely important. That Barack Obama and other Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, call it the leading issue in the campaign and facing the nation is clearly at dramatic odds with the electorate.”
He also said race relations are not seen as that important, despite the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Also, candidate stances on the moral issues of abortion and traditional marriage are not viewed as top concerns of the electorate this year.
On marriage, 46 percent overall, but 54 percent of the GOP, cited a candidate’s opinions as extremely important. That was 57 percent overall concerning education, 48 percent on abortion, 53 percent on energy policy, 57 percent on religious freedom, 39 percent on race relations.
See the results: All of the questions asked, “Generally speaking, when it comes to deciding for which candidates you will vote in the 2016 elections how important are the following issues to you? As I read each issue please rate its importance to you on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being extremely important:
Copyright 2015 WND
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