Post-Election Survey Results
In addition to ranking the top choices of all the respondents, as summarized in the e-mail, we also weighted the results based on a simple system in which we gave 5 "points" to each respondent’s first choice, 4 to the second choice, 3 to the third, 2 points to the fourth choice, and 1 point to the fifth. The top chart at the right (red bars) shows the percentage of the weighted total "votes" received by each of the issues.
The charts that follow show the distribution of the responses in the individual issue categories from 1 (most important) to 5.
Click here to download an Excel file with the raw totals and percentages for each of the twenty issues in the survey.
Some points of interest from the results:
- A full one-third of the respondents chose the adoption of single-payer healthcare as either their top issue or ranked it second. Almost 12 percent picked it in one of the five slots, also giving that issue the highest raw total.
- Withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, when combined with major cuts in the US military budget, shows a strong preference for peace, in addition to good health.
- Third in the weighted total rankings is the conversion to a renewable energy economy. Stopping nuclear power plants and enacting a carbon tax were not highly popular avenues for accomplishing this goal, which would seem to anticipate the intense debate that will take place over the coming years on just what will be required to put the US and the world on a sustainable energy footing.
- There is a broad consensus among the respondents in favor of corporate reform, re-regulation, and sanctions and supervision as remedies for increasingly evident corporate malfeasance.
The high number of "Other" responses in the top issue category was due to a number of factors, and requires more time to evaluate. Please check back here over the coming days for a more complete discussion of the results. In the meantime, some preliminary observations from the survey responses:
Many people expressed, as their alternative top issue, a desire for broad and sweeping improvements in the state of our democracy. That desire was a major theme of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, but is hard to quantify.
Many also listed impeachment and/or prosecution of administration officials, fair trade policies, and jobs and the economy as "Other" top issues. These were also campaign priorities but did not make the list.
There were a large number of policy suggestions put forward on the general topic of the Environment (including global warming, sustainable agriculture, animal rights, water conservation).
Other issues mentioned (NOT complete and NOT ranked):
- Immigration and Border Security
- Extend military withdrawal to ALL countries
- Lobby reform
- Reform of Campaign Finance and "Operations"
- Public Transit, including High-Speed Rail
- Revival of the Commons
- LGBT and Reproductive Rights — all sides and a wide variety of opinion.
- Abolish or Reform Income Tax and the Federal Reserve
- Abolish the Electoral College
- Free College Education
- Affordable Housing
- Media Reform
- Balanced Budget
- Formation of a "New Party"
- Education
- Term Limits
- 9-11 Truth
- Abolition of the Death Penalty
- Overpopulation
- Re-regulation of credit and tightened standards (no suggestions they be loosened).
- Reverse privatization in military and government services
