Even a Faux news poll says that defense isn't the biggest issue.

[ryharrin]

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. July 29-30, 2003. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.

.

"What do you think is the most important issue for the federal government to address today?"
%
Economy/Jobs/Unemployment 40
Health care/Prescription drugs 10
Defense/Military/Homeland security 7
Terrorism, other than Iraq 7
Education 5
War/Iraq/Saddam Hussein 4
Social Security/Medicare 4
Taxes 3
Other 10
Don't know 9


The economy is almost 6 times as important as defense/military. (More than 2 times even if you include the Iraq war and terrorism categories) Health care is rated three times as high as taxes' paltry 3%. If democrats (Especially Dean) can get their record and ideas out there, the shrub is toast.

[Maple]

1. Yeah

it's still the economy.

[ryharrin]

2. You left out "stupid"

Thanks for the vote of confidence :)

[Iris]

3. I changed my mind about what I wanted to say

and now I have nothing to add to this thread!

(But the numbers are nice to see!)

[devarsi]

4. Thanks ryharrin

I brought up a similar point in a Dean VP thread, which I remember you backing up with this data. Thanks for the info, and the reminder that we vote where we need the most protection - in our wallets and purses.

:-)

[ryharrin]

5. No problem.

We just need to get these numbers into the media. Then maybe the candidates will stop being such wimps when it comes to taking on bush on all fronts. And it might just stop shut Lieberman up.

[devarsi]

6. Anything that shuts up Lieberman...

has got tobe better than anything that makes theman talk.

No offense intended, but the guy, IMO, has a negative charisma factor.

Whenever I hear him speak, I am bored by the thrid or fourth word, and angry by the end of the first sentence.

I think of him as Senator Pain, because he is painful to listen to, and because he reminds me of the bad guy (Senator Paine) from Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

[Kahuna]

7. It wasn't in 2002 either. But turns out .... it was.

Respondents in polls taken prior to the 2002 elections also said that the economy was the foremost issue. But they lected more repukes anyway. The Office of Homeland Security issue and the Iraq vote carried the day for the repukes. So keep believing that national security won't play a part in electing the next president. Believe that and we will certainly see four more years of shrub.

[devarsi]

8. No, Just Shows Voters Thought Dems Couldn't Handle the Money

Now people are seeing the light. You know, the light that hangs over the door at the unemployment office?

[Noordam]

9. Wrong wrong wrong the DLC just today told me that Defence is

the ONLY thing the American people want to hear about. And the DLC is Never wrong except in 2002, and 2000.

[Snellius]

10. But do Dems have an advantage on the issue of the economy?

There have been other polls that say that Democrats are no more able to effect the economy than the Republicans. There's a popular belief that the economy is like the weather, like the old invisible hand myth, a natural force that people can talk about but can't really do anything about. The Republicans and the corporate media have done such a thorough job of identifying criticism of big business and big money with communism or "class war" that even Nadar has lost his edge. Enron is seen as an aberration but systemic. Even Democrats are afraid to run on a universal employment platform.