Yesterday, Barack Obama made a speech in
You can find the entire speech on the Select2008 Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Select2008
The response to Obama’s speech on the blogosphere is overwhelming. Will this speech help him preserve his lead in the Clinton vs. Obama Face Off? Will the speech help Obama catch up with Clinton in
Popularity: 83% [?]
The top five most contentious issues on Select2008 paint an interesting picture of the electorate ahead of the important
First, key social issues – same-sex marriage and abortion – remain as divisive as ever in the electorate. These issues are currently eclipsed by the partisan nature of the primaries. However, as we enter the general election season, we expect these issues will come back to the forefront.
- Marriage should only be defined as the union between a man and a woman – 46% agree and 46% disagree out of 3,200+ votes and 900+ votes last week
- The U.S. Constitution should define marriage as the union between a man and a woman
- Abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape and to save the life of the mother – 44% agree and 49% disagree out of 1,700+ votes and 700+ votes last week
- Prohibit same-sex marriage, but allow domestic partnerships providing to same-sex partners the same benefits as marriage 44% agree and 48% disagree out of 2,900+ votes and 750+ votes last week
The issues of illegal immigration and earned legalization process are also very sensitive. It will be interesting to see how this issue plays with the electorate, not only at the presidential level, but also at State and local levels, especially in
- Require illegal immigrants to go back to their country of origin to apply for legal immigration – 47% agree and 43% disagree out of 10,400+ votes and 2,000+votes last week
Finally, the issue of
- The U.S. is making progress in Iraq – 43% agree and 47% disagree out of 2,900+ votes and 800+ votes last week
Popularity: 97% [?]
The Select2008 website has proposed four Candidates Face Offs for a the last three weeks: two partisan ones -
Candidates Face Offs are a unique and non-partisan tool to compare and choose candidates to the 2008 primaries and presidential elections, by answering a personalized sequence of policy- and program-based questions.
We have now improved the overall experience to make it even more informative, engaging, and educative. Candidates Face Offs now provide live polling data about users’ opinion on each question asked and on candidates’ position. This feature is part of a bigger push to make even more data available to users to help them understand candidates’ positions and track opinion. Give it a try!!
Popularity: 38% [?]
Romney’s endorsement of McCain has now settled the Republican primaries and nomination process. On the other hand, the Democratic one is still unusually and intensely competitive, with both Clinton and Obama still having their shot at the nomination.
The Select2008 Blog has already highlighted the key differences between Clinton’s and Obama’s platforms, on key domestic and foreign issues. These differences are indeed very relevant to next week’s primaries. However, we would like to encourage Democratic, Republican and independent voters to have an eye on the general elections.
We will therefore focus the next few posts on helping voters think through the key policy and programmatic differences for a general elections face off between Clinton and McCain or between Obama and McCain.
Popularity: 45% [?]
The Select2008 Blog was just added to the Wonkosphere directory of political blogs tracking the 2008 election cycle. The Select2008 Blog is one of the only 65 independent blogs tracking the 2008 presidential election - as opposed to over a thousand liberal and conservative blogs.
The Select2008 Blog currently focuses on the four top face offs of the 2008 presidential primaries - Clinton v. Obama, McCain v. Huckabee, Clinton v. McCain, and McCain v. Obama, by:
- Comparing and tracking candidates’ programs and policy positions, which is based on Select2008.com’s detailed analysis of presidential candidates’ electoral platforms (over a thousand bite-size questions);
- Compiling and reporting on Select2008.com’s live polling, which is based on 450,000 votes over the last month.
For additional information on Wonkosphere, here’s a summary in their own words:
“Wonkosphere is designed for those who seek an analysis of the political buzz that is timely and unbiased.
Wonkosphere tracks hundreds of blogs and web sites per day, more than any human can read. Patented technology text analysis technology identifies posts that matter, not just posts that are popular.
If you’re tracking individual candidates, our unique analysis will show you their share of buzz in conservative and liberal blogs, highlight the most representative posts, and tell you whether the tone of discussion about your candidate is trending up or down.“
Popularity: 28% [?]
The whole gamut of so-called divisive social issues have bubbled up to the top of Select2008.com’s live polling, based on last week’s over 300,000 votes. These issues include same-sex marriage, a constitutional amendment on marriage, partial birth abortion, the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy and restrictions to Second Amendment rights.
Highly contentious issues still hold sway with voters – beyond traditional value voters - in the 2008 presidential election cycle. This matter of fact runs counter to the conventional wisdom that values’ influence has diminished.
If the sample below is any indication, look for social values to make a resurgence as we move into the general campaign:
- The U.S. Constitution should define marriage as the union between a man and a woman – 47% agree and 44% disagree
- Prohibit same-sex marriage, but allow domestic partnerships providing to same-sex partners the same benefits as marriage – 42% agree and 49% disagree
- Support ban on partial birth abortion – 42% agree and 46% disagree
- The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, is right to ask to maintain the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy – 43% agree and 43% disagree
- Support restrictions to the right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms under the Second Amendment – 50% agree and 41% disagree
Popularity: 38% [?]
Healthcare issues have bubbled up to the top of the Select2008.com’s live polling over the last couple of weeks of intense primaries campaigning, on both Democratic and Republican sides of the spectrum.
Universal healthcare is a key point of contention between Clinton and Obama, in terms of mandate and scope. The Federal government’s role in healthcare is a key contention point between Democrats – who favor an extension of the Federal government’s role – and Republicans – who favor Federal disengagement and market-based solutions to healthcare issues.
As independents keep tuning into the campaign, the following issues - based on over 300,000 votes over the last week - will remain critical:
- Raise taxes to achieve universal healthcare - 45% agree and 48% disagree
- Achieve universal healthcare as quickly as possible - 47% agree and 42% disagree
- Allow States to devise their own path to universal healthcare - 42% agree and 48% disagree
- Make SCHIP available even to children who already benefit from private health insurance - 41% agree and 41% disagree
- Move from employer-based and government-based healthcare insurance to consumer-based healthcare insurance - 39% agree and 39% disagree
Popularity: 36% [?]
To help users make up their minds in these more confrontational times, we are launching four Primaries Face Offs on Select2008:
Users can still compare and choose among more than two candidates, especially useful for Republican and Independent voters.
Users can also refer to some of our recent blog posts on the Democratic Face Off and the Republican Face Off, as well as our posts to help Edwards and Giuliani supporters make up their minds.
Popularity: 37% [?]
Rudy Giuliani has abandoned his bid to the presidential candidacy in the aftermath of the Florida primaries and endorsed John McCain. However, his supporters might want to make up their own minds and choose between John McCain and Mitt Romney. Although other candidates are still in the race on the Republican side - namely Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul - McCain and Romney have really jumped ahead of the pack, so we’ll focus on them for now.
We highlight below the key policy issues that will help Giuliani’s supporters choose between McCain and Romney for the remaining Republican primaries and Super Tuesday:
- Energy and environment: Giuliani agreed with Romney and disagreed with McCain on global warming and energy independence, including supporting biofuels and corn ethanol subsidies, tapping into domestic sources of oil such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), setting up a Federal market to trade carbon emissions caps, and increasing research funding for alternative energy technology;
- Healthcare: Giuliani’s healthcare plan and support for market-based approaches to lower healthcare costs and to increase access to health insurance has differences and similarities with McCain and Romney’s proposals, such as drug reimportation, setting up a means-tested tax credits for healthcare insurance, creating a tax deduction for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, a tax deduction for healthcare costs, or subsidies to high-cost and low-income individuals to supplement tax credits and Medicaid;
- Homeland Security and war on terrorism: Giuliani and McCain have both boasted his leadership skills, as well as military and foreign affairs experience, to propel their candidacies; however Giuliani disagreed more often with McCain than with Romney on this issue, in particular on maintaining the
- Social issues: Giuliani’s stance on conservative social issues undermined his candidacy; however, even McCain and Romney disagree on gun control and on whether to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution on marriage, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman; their support of a pro-life position and record on the question also differ;
- Taxes: Giuliani disagreed with both McCain and Romney on the Alternative Minimum Tax; Giuliani proposed steep tax cuts, which provide common grounds with both McCain and Romney, although these candidates differ on both on tax incentives to corporations and income tax; they also have not both signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Popularity: 69% [?]
Ahead of the Super-Tuesday primaries contest of next week, we have tracked down the five key international issues on which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama disagree:
- Defense: the candidates disagree on the size of the necessary increase of the
- Foreign affairs: Clinton and Obama have strongly disagreed on several foreign affairs-related issues; Obama stated his support in favor of talking with leaders of
- Free trade: Free trade was a divisive issue during the primaries campaign, as candidates faced the softening economy; although both candidates supported the Peru free trade agreement, they disagree on key free trade issues: negotiate new free trade agreements and renegotiate NAFTA;
- War in Iraq: Clinton and Obama have had differences over the War in Iraq from the onset back in 2002; the two candidates also disagree on the way forward on Iraq, either by federalizing Iraq along sectarian lines, or by following the conclusions from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, as well as the size and mission of the U.S. “residual” force in Iraq;
- War on terrorism: Obama made a strongly dissenting point against the rest of the candidates’ field by ruling out using nuclear weapons against terrorist leaders like Osama Bin Laden, while other candidates refused to discuss it;
Popularity: 57% [?]