Your money & your vote?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Americans are down and out when it comes to the state of their own pocketbooks, and it's the issue that is most likely to drive the outcome of the election in November.
A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows 55% of those surveyed say their families are worse off financially than they were just one year ago. That's the highest number who have felt that way since the poll first asked this question more than 30 years ago. It's also an increase of 11 percentage points since February.
The poll found anxiety about the economy is everywhere, among all groups of people. Two-thirds of those who make less than $30,000 say they are worse off than a year ago, but so do almost half of those making more than $75,000. The only major group of people who say they're better off are, surprise, Republicans.
One of the oldest and most reliable rules of politics is when the economy is bad, that makes for an appetite for change. And history suggests the fight over who can best improve the economy and change things is what will decide this election.
It's pretty simple really. When voters are downbeat about their financial situation, they turn against the party that's in the White House. That's what happened in 1976, 1980 and 1992. Not a good sign for John McCain and the Republicans.
Also, polls show Barack Obama getting much higher marks on the economy than John McCain. My guess is the election will not be decided by whether someone is willing to meet with Iran.
Here’s my question to you: How will your personal financial situation affect your vote in November?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Will Clinton’s supporters back McCain?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Guess who Hillary Clinton's new best friend is? The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, is singing Hillary's praises to the heavens.
McCain to a group of Tennessee voters: "I admire and respect her. Hillary Clinton has inspired generations of American women to believe that they can reach the highest office in this nation. I admire the campaign she's run. She's deserving of a great deal of credit."
Interesting timing, now that Clinton's campaign is on its final leg. Clinton has insisted that if she's not the nominee she'll work with Barack Obama to unite the party and beat the Republicans in November. But remember all those Clinton supporters who angrily said they will vote for John McCain in the fall if she is not the nominee? Apparently John McCain remembers. And it sounds like he wants to know if they're serious.
Another sign McCain may be reaching out to Clinton's female supporters: one of his top advisers, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, says she believes Clinton faced sexism on the campaign trail. Fiorina says she has a lot of sympathy for what Clinton has been through, and that "a lot of women recognize she's been treated differently, whether they're Democrats or Republicans."
Some of the exit polls suggest there might be something to all this. For example, in Kentucky, 42% of Clinton voters said they'd back McCain, 32% said Obama, and 23% said they wouldn't vote at all.
It remains to be seen once the race is over and tempers have cooled whether these trends will really hold up. After what eight years of the Bush administration have done to this country, wouldn't you have to think long and hard before voting for someone who is almost exactly like him?
Here’s my question to you: How likely is it that Hillary Clinton’s supporters will actually vote for John McCain in November?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Best way for Dems to unite for November?
(PHOTO CREIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
It was five months ago today that an unknown black senator rode into the all-white state of Iowa and absolutely ruined Hillary Clinton's day. And the day after. And the day after that. And pretty much every day since.
Now it looks like it's about over. It's been historic. And bloody. And very expensive. And despite the open invitation from George Bush to the Democrats to simply walk into the White House, a Democratic presidency starting in 2009 is still a long way from a sure thing.
The breakthrough candidacies of the first woman and first African-American with a real shot for the nation's highest office may have torn the Democratic Party to shreds. Clinton and Obama polarized the electorate. And along the way, it got very nasty. We still don't know what it will take for Hillary Clinton to climb aboard the Obama express, and so far she's done little more than pay lip service to the idea of being a real team player and working as hard to unite the Democrats as she did to defeat Barack Obama.
Unless the Democrats can pull themselves together, the campaign of 2008 will go into the history books as the greatest opportunity ever squandered in American politics.
Here’s my question to you: What's the best way for the Democrats to begin uniting the party for November?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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