Geoff Garin: It’s Still the Economy

by Mike Hall, Nov 13, 2006

You couldn’t help but notice during the long months of the recent campaign that President George W. Bush and Republican candidates all raved about the state of the nation’s economy, repeating like a broken record how well off we all are and how much better off we’d be if we stayed the economic course.

Of course, working Americans who experience the reality of economic life today had a different point of view—and acted upon it in the election.

So says Geoff Garin, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, in a guest column now at www.aflcio.org. Hart conducted extensive pre- and post-election polling to gauge voters’ attitudes.

Garin says many so-called pundits agreed with Republican strategists’ theory that an improved stock market and somewhat low unemployment rate would drive voters to their candidates. Wrong, says Garin:

Polling conducted before the election shows the employment rate is not a good measure of Americans’ real confidence in the economy. A significant majority believe (rightly so) that the new jobs we are adding to the economy are not as good as the jobs we have lost, both in terms of pay and benefits. In polling conducted for the AFL-CIO, most Americans say that even if you get a good education and are willing to work hard, it is hard to find a job in today’s economy that is both secure and good paying.

In fact, writes Garin, post-ballot polling shows that the minority of voters say they are doing economically well fell into the Republican column.

Not only are voters concerned about their inability to get ahead, or just stay afloat in today’s economy, they are worried about their kids’ opportunities if economic conditions don’t change, 40 percent say things for the next generation will be worse than they are today.

All voters, union and nonunion, who helped shape the new congressional majority, say Congress must make the economy priority—from new laws protecting workers’ wages in corporate bankruptcies to raising the minimum wage to lowering health care costs and more. Says Garin:

Politicians from either party who ignore the voters message about the need for economic change will do so at their own peril.

Click here to read Garin’s full column and here for previous POVs.

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