At this stage of a presidential campaign, candidates can safely spend their time raising pressing the flesh. Problem is, they're also expected to have something to say, even though it's not always obvious what subjects they should be talking about.
Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen recalls that about this time in 1997, polling suggested that education would be the big issue in the 1998 elections. By the spring of 1998, it looked as if reform of health maintenance organizations through a "patients' bill of rights" would top the charts. As it turned out, no dominant issue emerged. When voters surveyed by the Voter News Service were asked what issue mattered most when they cast their ballot, 20 percent cited education; 18 percent, morals and ethics; 14 percent, economy and jobs; 13 percent, taxes; just 6 percent, health care; and 5 percent, the problems related to President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. As Democratic consultant Rich Neimand put it, it was a Seinfeld election: an election about nothing in particular.
Trying to figure out the top issues a year and a half
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.