Fri
Sep 12 2008
10:51 am
Workers concerned about jobs and health care, trust Obama to help
By: R. Neal

According to a recent survey, more than half of American workers are worried about finding a new job if they become unemployed, followed closely by concerns over their ability to pay for healthcare insurance. The poll also shows Barack Obama as the preferred candidate for tackling U.S. workplace issues.

The poll of 1,159 workers (83% full-time and 17% part-time) was conducted last week by the Employment Law Alliance. Some of the results:

• 51% are worried about finding a new job if they lose their current one

• 45% are troubled by the increasing cost to workers of employer-sponsored healthcare plans

• 37% fear losing a job due to poor economic conditions

• 28% are concerned about fewer job opportunities due to outsourcing

Regarding their "ability to promote policies to address workplace issues" causing workers the greatest concern, Obama was seen as "more likely to satisfactorily address those challenges." The margins were:

• 51% to McCain's 20% regarding tackling the lack of affordable healthcare

• 32% to McCain's 21% regarding the ability to find a new job

• 40% to McCain's 25% in terms of controlling increasing healthcare insurance costs

• 40% to McCain's 25% with respect to dealing with the possibility of job loss due to national economic woes

The report also notes that Obama leads by wide margins when it comes to "making it harder for US companies to outsource jobs overseas" (51% vs. 15%) and "dealing with the lack of renewable energy sources" (44% vs. 30%).

Source: The Employment Law Alliance

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bizgrrl's picture

This is the bread and butter

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2008/09/12 - 11:26am.

This is the bread and butter of the campaign. Vote your wallet and Obama wins. Why can't the majority see this?

Brian A.'s picture

Your emphasis on issues that

Submitted by Brian A. on Fri, 2008/09/12 - 11:36am.

Your emphasis on issues that impact people's daily lives is strangely misplaced.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

RayCapps's picture

Some of this could be useful...

Submitted by RayCapps on Fri, 2008/09/12 - 1:41pm.

I'm not sure you can win a national campaign on Healthcare. The majority have access to health insurance in one form or another, so the focus on the uninsured depends on a degree of altruism or trying to explain the eye-rolling-back-in-the-head subject of cost shifting. The "you're paying too much" argument has merit, but it will invite the "government bureaucrat between you and your doctor" meme in response. Not sure that's a winning proposition.

However, though I personally feel the "outsourcing" fear is overblown at best and a total red herring at worst, it's a great buzzword that plays very well in battleground states like Ohio. The Obama campaign should take this and run with it as far as they can.

Another thing the Obama folks can do is to trot out the old GOP question and use it against them. "Are you and your family better off today than they were 8 years ago?" Maybe even expound on that a little and put a twist on the "security" plank of the GOP platform. "Do you feel more secure in your job than you did 8 years ago?" "Do you feel better about your ability to retire in security than you did 8 years ago?" "Do you feel more secure about your ability to pay for your child's college education?" That kind of stuff.

T.Lo's picture

Obama seems more like a

Submitted by T.Lo on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 10:13am.

Obama seems more like a "change" than McCain, but the fact is that neither one of them, and generally neither parties (D's and R's), will actually make any big difference. Call me pessimistic, but the U.S. is heading to the worst!

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