Happy 2019!
The full revised draft of American Resistance will be going into Columbia University Press this month (so you can imagine what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks). That said, I wanted to share one more overview of findings from the follow-up survey with participants in the Resistance based on my post-2018 election survey.
While the action shifted from the Streets to the Districts, perspectives by members of the Resistance about what are the top 3 issues facing America were pretty stable. Here’s the comparison:
The stability of concern for the environment is remarkable. It provides support for policies like a #GreenNewDeal (as well as more specific regulations to mitigate Climate Change). Concern for the political system in the US is also relatively stable. This category includes issues of Voter Suppression and Gerrymandering, as well as challenges to our electoral system.
Concern for Health Care shot up during this 6 month period. This shift is likely the result of attempts to repeal the #ACA as well as the discussion of candidates’ positions on healthcare during the election. Concern for #CivilRights fell from the #2 category in May 2018 to #4 (earning 5% less mentions). This shift may be due, in part, to the fact that Racial Justice was mentioned much more in November 2018.
In contrast to mentions by incoming Congressional leaders who say they will be focused on an infrastructure bill quickly (after resolving the government shutdown), infrastructure did not make the list of the top 15 issues in either May or November 2018. It was only mentioned TWO TIMES total right after the election, representing 0.4% of all mentions
Dana R Fisher 