About Choices for Working Californians
In addition to Iraq, the top tier of issues for California Democratic Presidential primary voters revolve around quality of life issues and cost of living concerns – but voters say those issues aren't being addressed. Nearly half (49%) believe their family's income is falling behind the cost of living. (Only 14% say they're getting ahead – a.k.a., 'living the American Dream.') Almost unanimously, Democratic primary voters want their government to play a more activist role in addressing their concerns – especially health care, global warming and oil dependency.
Make no mistake, the war in Iraq remains the dominant issue for California Democratic voters, and national security/terrorism are important too. But from the data in Working Californians’ April 2007 statewide poll of likely Democratic primary voters, it’s clear that quality of life issues – economic security/jobs, health care, energy and the environment, and education – are top tier concerns, issues that will be crucial to determining voters’ choices. And while voters say they’re hearing a great deal about Iraq and terrorism, they report hearing strikingly little about the other topics that they say are important to determining their vote.
That’s why we’ve launched the Choices for Working Californians project. Time and again, our research on voter attitudes has shown that Californians want public officials to focus on core, quality of life issues – and so Working Californians inserts these issues into the public debate.
For the 2008 Presidential primaries, the Choices project will use strategic research and this online Issues Center to highlight the issues voters care deeply about, but aren’t hearing enough about from the Presidential candidates. (This section covers the Democratic Primary. The Republican Primary section is coming soon.) Our goals for this project are simple:
- Provide research-driven analysis of California voters’ attitudes.
- Provide the public with a “one-stop-shop for tracking the Presidential candidates’ views, positions, and actions on their key quality of life issue areas.
- Provide Presidential candidates with a neutral online hub for communicating with California voters on those issues
So check out Working Californians’ latest strategic research and analysis on the California electorate and use the Choices Center to compare where Californians stand to where the Presidential candidates stand.
About Working Californians
Working Californians is a not-for-profit strategic research and advocacy group promoting quality-of-life issues for working men and women in California. For more information, click here.
For the Media
If you’re a reporter and want to reach the Working Californians media contact, click here.