Seven years after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the majority of Americans express little worry about being directly affected by a terrorist attack. According to the latest Gallup poll (cited on politico.com), terrorism does not appear to greatly influence Americans' choice for a new president, as only 12% consider terrorism to be the most important factor influencing their vote. Americans have not been making the terrorism issue a top priority in the current presidential campaign.
The poll indicates that Americans would prefer a presidential candidate whose greatest strength is fixing the economy, rather than an ability to handle terrorism. This probably results from the huge volume of negative economic news in recent months compared with a more muted discussion of the war on terror.
On John McCain's website in the "Why McCain" section, 14 topics are listed in what appears to be an order of importance to voters. The top five issues are: the economy, health care, national security, education, and Iraq. Of course any increased attention to the issue of terrorism is most likely to benefit John McCain, as many recent polls indicate that people feel McCain would better handle to issue of terrorism, this listing on his website shows that the McCain clan is aware that the economy is of most importance to voters.
Which is more important to you: a president who can effectively fight terrorism and keep America safe or a president who can fix the economy?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Personally, terrorism has never really hit that close to me. I hate that it ever happened and everything it stands for, but my personal threat level is very low. I doubt they are going to make any attacks on nowheresville Indiana. But it does seem weird that after only 7 years we are so far removed from the terrorist threats that turned into a reality. I believe this is because once again they are only threats to us. Meanwhile, the failing economy has moved from a threat, to a very fierce reality. We are having the outsourcing of jobs at an alarming rate and our once booming manufacturing industry begins to dwindle as we head deeper and deeper into a service economy. The effect of this is many of our average middle class Americans are becoming unemployed. This is why it is a great thing for our country that the voters are more focused on our economy.
Realistically, it would be impossible to fight terrorism without a fixed economy since it would take a toll on the economy. Therefore, it is necessary for us to fix the economy to continue our fight against terrorism. But the burden of this fight does not rest solely on our shoulders. This needs to be a multi-lateral effort as terrorism is an ideology opposed to an actual tangible force. We can't point out who are the terrorists and who are not. This fight, needs to be a world effort. One in which instead of the traditional invading and fighting terms, we beat the ideology out of the people's minds.
One idea of fixing the economy:
Reverse our current import/export taxation policy. We are currently heavily taxing our exports and letting the imports come in relatively free. This is making our country extremely uncompetitive and forcing us to repeat the 1920's, which we all know how that ended (and if you don't, it was the Great Depression). How about taxing our imports and letting our exports go free? This way we can bring back the incentive to bring jobs to America, and destroy that horrible 6.1% (check my facts but I believe that is the latest number) unemployment rate...but, it's just an idea.
I think that fixing the economy is way more important! Yes, 9/11 is something that will never be forgotten and can never completely recover from, but terrorism just doesn't seem that important! Besides 9/11, how many times has that happened, especially in the last 21 years? I just would like to see the economy fixed before I die, so I can live a good life! It just makes sense to me that the economy should come first knowing that if something doesnt change, half of us might not have jobs...or at least good ones!
I agree with all of you that fixing the economy is of more importance to America right now. Jared is right that it would be impossible to fight terrorism without a stable economy so that should be the focus. The events of 9/11 were horrific, no one is debating that, but we need to move on. Do you think 7 years after the attack on America at Pearl Harbor that people were still making such a big deal about it?
Post a Comment