Editorial

Will Americans hear real issues or will circus continue?

Monday, September 26, 2016

The chances of anyone "winning" tonight's presidential campaign are extremely thin, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

At best, performances by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will make most of their supporters feel less negative about their candidate.

Three-fourths of us are frustrated and more than half say the campaign is making them feel angry or helpless. Two-thirds don't think the campaign is addressing important topics, only 40 percent are hopeful, a quarter are excited and less than two in 10 say they are proud.

The circus-like atmosphere of this year's campaign has eliminated one problem, apathy. Some 86 percent of us are paying at least some attention to the race.

So what would we like to see Clinton and Trump discuss?

For Republicans, terrorism and national security, economic growth and taxes are important for at least 80 percent of them.

The same portion of Democrats thinks health care, education and Social Security should receive more attention.

Voters of both parties have found some topics of agreement; nearly two-thirds say the campaign focuses too little on the issues that matter most to them personally, more than half say there's too little focus on the candidates' qualifications and more than half of Americans said the campaign is focused too much on the personal characteristics of the candidates.

Overall, health care is the top issue of concern for 81 percent of Americans, with similar rates for Social Security, education, terrorism and homeland security.

Next come crime and economic growth, poverty and taxes. Immigration is rated as important for 61 percent of voters.

Tonight's performance will prove to voters whether either candidate is willing to campaign on the real issues or content to allow this important process to degenerate into just another reality show for the American public.


Read the original report here: http://bit.ly/2ddsZeF

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  • Both candidates have personal flaws so if we are happy with the policies that gave us what we currently have in health care, terrorism, homeland security, the economy, race relations,and immigration, then it would seem we would favor putting a Democrat back in the White Houee. If we do not like the direction the country is currently headed on those issues a vote for hope and change would favor the Republicans. Sadly how Nebraskans vote will matter little with the population in the big cities and on the coasts.

    -- Posted by dennis on Mon, Sep 26, 2016, at 12:28 PM
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