Voters share their thoughts on politics in the past year / LJWorld.com

Archive for Sunday, November 8, 2009

Voters take to the polls at Cornerstone Southern Baptist Church, 802 West 22nd Street Terrace, on Tuesday. More than 65 people had cast their vote by 8 a.m. at the 28th voting precinct in Lawrence.

By Christine Metz

November 8, 2009

Looking back on Election Day hopes

Mark Algren is a Republican for Obama

Reader poll

On the street

One year after being elected, has President Barack Obama done a good job?

I feel he is a bit overwhelmed. I think we just need to give him more time. I still have high hopes for him.

— Jenny Laven

More responses

Younger voters in Douglas County had a strong showing at the polls during the presidential election, but other elections can have a greater impact.

It was a crisp, autumn day here in Douglas County, and just like in the rest of the country, a sense of change was in the air as voters went to the polls last November.

Veterans, bankers, teachers and entire families came out to vote here — a record number with more than 53,000 people in all.

The Lawrence Journal-World was there with video cameras asking voters what was on their minds — what issues they cared about, what changes they hoped to see in the next six months and how they had voted.

One year later, we tracked down some of the voters to ask again what was on their minds and to reflect on their votes of a year ago.

Here is what they said.

Mark Algren

For Mark Algren, the election of Barack Obama was an exciting moment, one he related as a mountaintop experience.

“Then you are sent from the mountain back to the plain,” Algren said. “I, along with many others, gosh, we wish more can be done. But the political process is very slow and takes a lot of time.”

A Republican who voted for Obama, Algren is frustrated with what he calls the “extreme polarization” of the far right.

“A year from now, it would be nice to see that the far right is able to temper itself and realize there is a political process that doesn’t involve fearmongering and hatred. And that there will be the ability to have a civil and civilized discussion about where the party is going,” he said.

Bettie Dannevik

Last November, 74-year-old Bettie Dannevik listed the economy as her No. 1 concern. A year later, it still is. She, like the majority of Lawrence, voted for Barack Obama. And, just as she did a year ago, she hopes the economy will turn around soon.

“I’m disappointed in a lot of areas. The No. 1 thing is our president has come up with some great solutions, but we don’t have the people that are smart enough to implement these changes,” she said.

Erin Morris

When Erin Morris voted for Obama last November, she did so with the intent that it would lead to a government that was “less partisan” and a “little more honest.”

But she hasn’t seen the changes she had hoped for, as politics has remained as partisan as ever.

However, the 32-year-old KU professor continues to view that November day as a historic one.

“I think electing the first black president was really big for our country,” Morris said. “But I don’t think policy and politics have changed as much as I wanted it to.”

As she looks to buy a house, Morris sees at least one of the president’s policies as having a major influence on her life: the first-time home buyer tax credit, which Congress extended this week until April 30, 2010.

Tyler Bolin

For Tyler Bolin, the political decisions that have been made in the past year have been difficult to stomach.

The 22-year-old Republican has a long list of criticism for the Obama administration. Too many federal regulations have been inserted into the auto industry and health care. Obama hasn’t listened to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops in Afghanistan. And the country has hit a 10 percent unemployment rate.

“It has been hard to watch,” Bolin said. “But at the same time, it is encouraging because a lot more people are shifting to the right because of how crazy things are.”

The past year has been one of change for Bolin, too. He graduated from Kansas University and is now working at a financial firm in Virginia, where he hopes to launch his own political Web site.

Richard Wiley

A year ago, Richard Wiley was against any new taxes. He was for having a smaller government and restoring more power back to the states. The Republican voted for Libertarian candidate Bob Barr for president.

And he predicted that “absolutely nothing” would be different in six months.

Today, Wiley said, there has been movement on one issue that he has been pleased with — a public health insurance option.

“If there was a way for the government to offer it so it was open and fair to all, that kind of excited me,” Wiley said, adding that he is disappointed that it’s an issue the president is now “wishy-washy” on.

As for the future, Wiley hopes that power shifts from the Democrats in Congress.

“People don’t like too much power in one place. I think everyone realizes that is not always a good thing,” he said.

Chantal Schneider

A year ago, Chantal Schneider voted for Obama because she felt the country “needed a fresh perspective” and he was the man to turn the economy around.

Today she is pleased with what he has done and the amount of campaign promises he has followed through on.

With the economy and health care reform, Schneider recognizes the challenges facing the president.

“I am glad I’m not president. I would not want to deal with all that,” Schneider said. “But I do have faith he can get us through.”

Ken Peirce

Ken Peirce isn’t afraid to admit that he does like Obama and probably should have voted for him.

But that doesn’t mean Peirce, who voted for John McCain, is happy with the way things are going.

As a banker, Peirce wasn’t pleased with the Obama administration’s decision to bail out financial corporations that were “too big to fail.” At the same time, interest rates on credit cards have gone up and real estate loans are harder to come by.

“What happened to ‘let’s make a change for every American and the everyday people’?” Peirce asked. “It seems like we are being punished and the big guys are getting away with what they want.”

Julie Buller

When Julie Buller voted for Obama last November, the main reason was to end the war in Iraq. It’s an area where she thinks progress has been made.

As someone who normally votes Republican, Buller said she wanted to see whether someone else “could do a better job.”

She agreed with the Cash for Clunkers program and sees the economy as being on the “right track” even if taxes haven’t gotten any lower.

However, Buller is still uncertain whether she will give Obama a second vote in 2012.

“I think I would have to wait another year or so to decide that for sure,” she said. “I think he needs to have a longer time in office (before you can) really evaluate.”

Discussion

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8 November 2009
at 7:43 a.m.

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Boston_Corbett (Anonymous) says…

Let me get this straight. Wiley, who voted Libertarian, is pleased with the public option, and wants power to shift from the Dems.

[scratching head]
8 November 2009
at 7:51 a.m.

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63BC (Anonymous) says…

Almost 18,000 people voted for McCain in Douglas County.

Using to voter registration figures and public approval polls, it is a fair assumption that most of those 2008 Douglas County McCain voters still live here and still don't approve of President Obama's job performance.

Yet this reporter couldn't find one–ONE–who lives here and doesn't regret their vote?

Not one?!

Regardless of one's views, that's obviously lazy slanted reporting.

They wonder why people complain about leftist bias in the media. Sheesh.
8 November 2009
at 5:06 p.m.

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KS (Anonymous) says…

What can you expect from the LJW? Talk about bias! I'm with you 63BC. Not one McCain voter left? I guess they all left town. You know, that giant sucking sound south of the border!
8 November 2009
at 6:11 p.m.

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1029 (Anonymous) says…

The whole idea that people are “shifting to the right” because they are disappointed with the Obama administration is for the most part just a bunch of wishful, exaggerated hype. Of course the Becks and Hannitys of the media world are going to get you excited with thoughts that patriotic Americans are rising up and throwing teabags around in protest, and pick and choose from the most creative polls to show that Obama is a “failure” or that his approval is dropping—they stand to benefit from deluding people into believing there will be some kind of power shift in 2010. Keep it exciting for as long as possible. Just like last year when any moderately intelligent, observant human should have seen all along that Obama was going to win in a landslide, yet if you turned on TV on read the LJ-W articles and comments, idiots still thought McCain/Palin had a chance.

The only people that say they would vote differently if the election were held today are the idiot “independent” voters. If the “independent” voter understood the fundamental differences in the ideologies of both parties, he/she would have long ago realized who they are and what they believed in. I have much more respective for the selfish, greedy, cold-hearted, undereducated, ignorant, simpleton conservative who always votes Republican than I do for the so-called “independent” or “swing” voter. Those are the stupidest, least-aware people in this country. They just keep getting fooled/influenced one way or the other every election cycle and they don't have the intellectual capacity to take a deep look inside themselves and figure out what it is they believe in.
8 November 2009
at 6:52 p.m.

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beobachter (Anonymous) says…

So 1029 you are saying independent voters are stupid since they don't blindly follow right wing nut case line? Nor totally believe Faux news?
8 November 2009
at 6:53 p.m.

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KS (Anonymous) says…

1029 - Only time will tell. Only time will tell. We will all see.
8 November 2009
at 6:55 p.m.

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63BC (Anonymous) says…

There's no need to suggest or find people “shifting” to the right or any other way to make this a decent story.

Just find ONE person who voted for McCain in Douglas County who still lives here and would vote the same way now–no “shifting” involved.

At a minimum, that's got to be north of 15,000 people and this reporter didn't bother to fine ONE.

That's a lame excuse for reporting.

The editor gave her an assignment and she phoned it in, revealing two predominant facts about the media in the process.

They are mostly lazy and their social networks are overwhelmingly left-of-cener and each of these facts influences their reporting negatively.

And at night, after work, reporters wonder why newspapers are in trouble.

8 November 2009
at 6:58 p.m.

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jkealing (Jonathan Kealing) says…

63BC—

We looked only at the people we talked to on election day in 2008. We left almost three dozen phone messages and reported back from all of the voters who decided to call us back — or who answered our call the first time.

Jonathan Kealing
Online editor
8 November 2009
at 7:22 p.m.

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63BC (Anonymous) says…

One possible interpretation of the apparent indifference of McCain voters to LJW inquiries is that it constitutes a market response evincing a belief among McCain voters that speaking to the LJW doesn't seem to be worth their time.

Articles like this certainly give that impression.

This interpretation would also fit other economic facts impacting the newspaper industry.

A first-class journalistic operation in a competitive marketplace would take that as an imperative to expand their reach into this bloc–comprising nearly 18,000 people in Douglas County alone.

You called a couple dozen people and not enough called back?

Call…more…people…

That's what struggling organizations in any other marketplace would do–real estate, insurance, brokerage.

A lesser journalistic organization wouldn't bother to do any more work and would instead phone in a story with eight respondents–none of whom voted for McCain, believe they made the right decision and still live in Douglas County.

The Journal-World seems to fall into this category.

Both the reporter and the editors should have higher standards.

When a news organization is not representative of its target community in partisan or ideological terms, it should attack that deficiency with the same determination it confronts other absences of diversity.

Something to think about when the next round of layoffs hits.
9 November 2009
at 12:41 a.m.

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lorigodoy09 (Anonymous) says…

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
9 November 2009
at 1 a.m.

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RogueThrill (Anonymous) says…

Yes, the paper that endorsed McCain in 2008 is biased.
17 November 2009
at 4:11 p.m.

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ChristineMetz (Christine Metz) says…

Hi,

I'm Christine Metz, the one who reported this story. I apologize for the lateness of this response. I just wanted to point out that in my reporting I talked to two residents who voted for McCain and another one who voted for the Libertarian candidate. Out of the eight responses posted, three were from people who did not vote for Obama.

And, Jonathan Kealing is right. In our reporting, we went off of a list of voters we talked to a year ago at election time. We contacted about three dozen people to ask their opinions. And printed the responses of all those who agreed to talk to us.

Thanks for your interest,
Christine Metz
17 November 2009
at 4:26 p.m.

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snap_pop_no_crackle (Anonymous) says…

According to recovery.gov, over 400 new congressional districts have been saved or created by the stimulus bill. You'll have many more voters to talk to next go-around.