Unit 2 Blog Post Political Beliefs and Behaviors

2/21/2016
Terrorism and Economy are Top Concerns for Primary Voters
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/26/poll-watch-terrorism-and-the-economy-are-top-concerns-for-primary-voters/?ref=topics&_r=0

Summary: Before Iowa's caucuses took place a poll was taken to determine what likely primary voters think are the biggest issues today. Conservatives are most concerned about terrorism and foreign policy. Liberals are more concerned about the economy and creating jobs. But both parties agree that these are the biggest issues. Candidates such as Donald Trump are addressing certain issues to appeal more to the public's opinion.  Candidates use these polls to get more of an idea of what likely voters want, allowing the candidates to gain more support if they address the issues in a way that will appeal to the voters. Donald has been clear what his beliefs are about terrorism and how America should fight back, this has appealed to many people allowing him to gain support. Hillary Clinton has addressed how she would handle foreign policy, showing that more people trust her than Bernie Sanders when it comes to foreign policy. Although Bernie has many supporters who like his economic proposals. President Obama has supported Hillary throughout her campaign, but has tried to remain unbiased by supporting Bernie as well. Some say that by Obama showing a little more favoritism over Hillary has directed that to support her rather than Bernie.

Analysis: This article accurately described how polls are used by candidates to gain more supporters once they find out more about the public opinion. This poll was not entirely scientific, but what i would considered a straw poll. It was based around gaining the knowledge of the opinions of the people. This poll was not scientific because it was not entirely random. Only likely voters were asked what their opinion was about the most important issues that should be addressed. This poll does do a good job of showing the wide range of opinions between the two parties. The democrats were more focused on economy while conservatives were more focused on terrorism. This greatly affects what the candidates are doing during their campaign and how they will try to appeal to the public to gain more supporters                .