by Gail McGowan Mellor and William Mellor
The demands made by our people are surprisingly clear on a core group of issues. This is a linked and expanded version of a piece we published before. You’ll find a lot that’s new. We will update it....
Right to Left with nearly 100% agreement, we demand one-person one-vote in clean electoral systems; and the separations, powers, liberties and rights established in our Constitution. In addition, a clear supermajority, 60-99% of us, agree on numerous other policies. A spot poll signifies nothing. These though are positions U.S.citizens have long held, growing to supermajority status over years.:
Justice At Stake (Brennan Center for Justice) polls show 68% demand that politicians stop taking bribes thinly veiled as campaign contributions. 95% say judges should remove themselves from cases involving campaign contributors, 90% of business leaders are concerned that campaign contributions and political pressure will make judges accountable to politicians and special interest groups instead of the law and the Constitution. 76% of all voters believe campaign contributions affect a judge’s courtroom decisions. 70 percent believe that Super PAC spending will lead to corruption.
CBS and New York Times polls show 92% of adult U.S. citizens demand background checks for guns. “Support for universal background checks went across party lines: 89 percent of Republicans and 93 percent of Democrats and independents were in favor, as well as 93 percent of gun households and 85 percent of those living in a household with a member of the National Rifle Association.” —CBS
IBOPE Zogby International reports that 88% support sovereignty for Native American tribes, honoring longstanding treaties between the government and tribes.
YouGov/Economist poll show 88% support police officers wearing body cameras, with 56% not only favoring but strongly favoring the idea. Just 8% are opposed.
Gallup polls show 87% of all Americans demand that the drug addicted and mentally ill be given treatment, not imprisoned as criminals. The ACLU reports, “In a sharp shift away from the 1980s and 1990s, when incarceration was seen as a tool to reduce crime, [66% of] voters now believe...that reducing the prison population will make communities safer by facilitating more investments in crime prevention and rehabilitation strategies.”
CBS News polls show 87% now support prescription marijuana. Even 77% of those who suspect that “medical marijuana” is sometimes or often used for recreational purposes support its legalization as a prescription. The basic opposition to recreational legalization comes from Republicans and the elderly. It is gaining support from those who feel U.S. prisons are filled for the most part with people who should not be there.
Pew Research reports that 82% say that workers should be paid when off work dealing with serious health conditions and 80% support paid maternity leave (just under 70% support paid paternity leave).
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication reports that 75% nationally and at least a majority of people in every state want CO2 (the product of fossil fuel use which is the key driver of climate change) regulated. Asked directly about “climate change” voters split, but their desire for CO2 regulation and switch to renewables (see below) shows an increasing demand for the solutions.
Gallup shows that 75 % support increased spending on infrastructure.
73% demand that corporations and the rich be taxed -- and made to pay their taxes. As to rates, 67% say that corporations are being taxed too little, while 63% feel the rich are being taxed too little.(The support is for progressive taxation. Taxes are currently regressive. Sheriff of Nottingham style, with the middle class and working poor paying a far higher percentage of their incomes than the wealthy do. Global corporations, battering our infrastructure, polluting air, land and water, evade virtually all US income and property tax. Interpretation of the word “rich” can therefore make the difference in responses here. There is near total agreement that Exxon, a major polluter, should pay. Almost 100% including Warren Buffet feel that billionaires and those receiving millions in income should be taxed at higher rates and made to pay. If the question is “Should those individuals making $200,000 a year be taxed more?” support all but evaporates. )
71% support for “right to work laws”, a major headache for unions. This is apparently less a vote against unions than against being forced to join something, but it allows people to work in unionized businesses (which thanks to unions have greater pay, protections and benefits than non-unionized shops) without paying union dues.
Gallup reports 70% favor federally funded preschool for all. YouGov reports that 62% support a system of tax-funded education through college.
Bloomberg Politics Poll asked, "When it comes to energy policy, which do you think is more important: renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, OR, coal and natural gas industries to get more energy out of the ground?" 65% chose renewables. [See CP2 regulation above.]
Economist/You Gov poll on universal healthcare 61% support a “federally-funded health insurance system that covers every American” cutting the private insurers, which make profit by denying valid claims, out of the loop..
And what’s almost reached 60%? According to Politico, 58% want the Dreamers to stay.
*************************************************
Erica Chenoweth, co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, says "nonviolent resistance has actually been the quickest, least costly, and safest way to struggle.” Her studies in the last 100 years across the world show that while violent resistance usually fails, non-violent resistance usually succeeds, and that the active, sustained support of 3.5% of the people makes the desired change unstoppable. In the U.S., that would be 11 million of us. Thirteen million showed up for the Sanders campaign. This is doable.
If you know of another supermajority opinion, please let us know.