Many of us are rightly feeling a little bit of heartbreak today. While nothing can negate the losses that our preferred political party suffered last night, I happened to stumble upon some old polling data that we should be careful to keep in mind. This poll is about two years old, but contains a wealth of information on tons of issues that are still very relevant to Americans today.
Without further fanfare, here are some of the poll's findings:
(Q1) On the question of the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as "Obamacare") would you like to see it stay in place, or repealed?
(Q2) On the question of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill (which took some first steps in regulating Wall Street) would you like to see it stay in place, or repealed?
(Q3) How would you gauge your faith in Republicans to govern from the White House?
(Q4) Do you believe the illegal immigration status quo is acceptable (i.e. a policy of "voluntary deportation") or do you believe we need reform?
(Q5) Do you believe climate change is a real and present threat to Americans?
(Q6) Do you believe that those with more money are entitled to "more free speech" than those with less (i.e. the Ruling in Citizens United (2010))
(Q7) Are 47% of Americans moochers who have no work ethic and just rely on the government to provide for them?
(Q8) Is income inequality a problem that our nation needs to address?
(Q9) Does America need to do-away with our social safety net, and let market forces take care of the poor and disabled?
(Q10) On the whole, would you say that you trust President Obama to keep leading this nation for an additional 4 years?
...
It's true that last night we suffered a setback, but it is just as true that we have a Democratic President who is only 50% through his mandate given by the people of this nation (more people than elected any individual office, or voted in 2014 in total). We cannot forget or give up on the issues important to us -- and important to all Americas -- because of one bad election.
We will have to pretzel twist ourselves into even more compromises -- I know that -- but we cannot forget our core values and those who are counting on Obama's administration to get it done.
Let's get it done.