Monday, November 3, 2014

POLL: High Anxiety, Low Expectations as Election Nears

As Election Day nears, America is the Land of the Fearful.
Voters are rattled by the Ebola virus, braced for years of conflict against the terrorist group Islamic State and still worried about jobs, a nationwide USA TODAY Poll finds. Two-thirds say the nation faces more challenging problems than usual; one in four call them the biggest problems of their lifetimes.
Voters line up outside the New Hanover County Board of 
Elections office as early voting began Oct. 23, 2014, in 
Wilmington, N.C.(Photo: Alan Cradick, AP)
And many lack confidence in the government to address them.
"There's this cornucopia of icky that's going on right now," says Laurie DeShano, 38, of Bay City, Mich., an instructor at Saginaw Valley State University who was among those surveyed. She cites concerns ranging from ISIS – "We're absolutely in the cross hairs" – to the out-sized influence of special interests in American politics.
"Just to be painfully honest, it's obvious we're quite off track," says Mike Trujillo, 46, an emergency-room physician from Miami. "I never thought the country would be going in this direction, not in my wildest dreams."
Among those who call President Obama a factor in their 
vote, by 2-1 they say they are casting a vote against 
him, not for him.(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)
President Obama's approval rating is a so-so 44%, and neither party is broadly trusted to handle the big issues ahead. By significant margins, those surveyed prefer congressional Republicans when it comes to dealing with the economy and ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria. By double-digits, they say congressional Democrats would do a better job in handling income inequality and social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
On dealing with the Ebola virus, one in five volunteer that they don't trust either one.
But the bottom line seems to be that the downbeat mood of the electorate is favoring the GOP, whose backers are more enthusiastic about voting and animated by their opposition to Obama.
CLUCK CHART to open INTERACTIVE VERSION
Read the rest of the story HERE.

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