Netroots Nation

Netroots Nation Straw Poll Results

OurFuture.org Staff — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:18:28 -0700

Participants in the July 17-20, 2008, Netroots Nations conference were asked what their top political issues were and what they believed should be the top priorities of the next presidential administration. The poll was co-sponsored by Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America's Future.

Here are the complete poll results:

Of the list of concerns below, please indicate which one of these is your top concern at this time.

Energy and global warming (10)	19%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor (2)	17%
Loss of constitutional rights (3)	15%
The war in Iraq (6)	11%
Corruption and special interests running Washington (12)	10%
Lack of affordable health care (8)	9%
Other:	8%
The federal deficit and government spending (5)	3%
Lack of equal rights for gay and lesbian community (13)	2%
High gas prices (11)	2%
Making education more affordable (4)	1%
Terrorism (1)	1%
Increased debt owed to foreign nations (14)	0%
Illegal immigration (9)	0
Increased taxes and more spending (7)	0%

Now, please indicate which of the concerns listed below is your next top concern at this time.

The war in Iraq (6)	17%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor (2)	12%
Loss of constitutional rights (3)	12%
Lack of affordable health care (8)	10%
Energy and global warming (10)	9%
Corruption and special interests running Washington (12)	9%
Other:	5%
Illegal immigration (9)	4%
High gas prices (11)	4%
The federal deficit and government spending (5)	3%
Lack of equal rights for gay and lesbian community (13)	3%
Making education more affordable (4)	2%
Increased taxes and more spending (7)	1%
Increased debt owed to foreign nations (14)	1%
Terrorism (1)	0%

Now something a little different, of that same list of concerns, please indicate below which one of these you feel should be the top priority for the next administration.

The war in Iraq (6)	23%
Energy and global warming (10)	20%
Lack of affordable health care (8)	15%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor (2)	12%
Loss of constitutional rights (3)	7%
Corruption and special interests running Washington (12)	6%
Other:	6%
The federal deficit and government spending (5)	3%
Increased debt owed to foreign nations (14)	3%
High gas prices (11)	2%
Making education more affordable (4)	1%
Illegal immigration (9)	1%
Terrorism (1)	0%
Increased taxes and more spending (7)	0
Lack of equal rights for gay and lesbian community (13)	0

Now, please indicate which of the concerns listed below you feel should be the next highest priority for the next administration.

Lack of affordable health care (8)	17%
Energy and global warming (10)	17%
The war in Iraq (6)	16%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor (2)	12%
Loss of constitutional rights (3)	10%
Corruption and special interests running Washington (12)	8%
The federal deficit and government spending (5)	4%
Making education more affordable (4)	3%
High gas prices (11)	3%
Increased debt owed to foreign nations (14)	3%
Other:	3%
Terrorism (1)	1%
Illegal immigration (9)	1%
Increased taxes and more spending (7)	0%
Lack of equal rights for gay and lesbian community (13)	0%

Congress

Overall, how much do you think Congress has accomplished this term, that is since January 2007: a great deal, a good amount, not too much, or nothing at all?

A great deal	2%
A good amount	16%
Not too much	68%
Nothing at all	12%

On the scale below please indicate who you feel is most to blame for the lack of accomplishment in Congress?

The Democrats in Congress are to blame (1)	5%
2	1%
3	2%
4	2%
The Administration and Republicans in Congress as well as the Democrats in Congress are to blame equally (5)	29%
6	11%
7	17%
8	15%
9	3%
The Administration and Republicans in Congress are to blame (10)	15%

Vice President

Please choose the statement which comes closer to your view, even if neither is exactly right:

Obama should pick someone politically similar to himself, reinforcing the dynamic nature of his candidacy and the urgent need for change, and keeping true to his liberal roots	72%
Obama should pick someone more toward the political center in order to help balance the ticket and make him more electable	25%

Involvement

How long, would you say, have you been active in politics?

0-2 years	7%
3-5 years	18%
5-10 years	30%
10+ years	48%

Do you yourself post or contribute to a political blog?

Yes	68%
No	30%

How long have you been posting or contributing to a political blog?

Less than 1 year	14%
1-2 years	27%
3-4 years	24%
4-5 years	23%

Please indicate below in what ways you are currently active in state and local politics and campaigns. Please check all that apply.

Write for a political blog focusing on local or state politics	26%
Write for an online publication other than a blog focusing on local or state politics 12%
Write for a print publication focusing on local or state politics	6%
Produce other media or "mashups" focusing on local or state politics
	8%
Volunteer for a political campaign at the state or local level	52%
Work professionally for a political campaign at the state or local level
	19%
Donate money to a political campaign at the state or local level
	67%
Other	19%

Now, please indicate below in what ways you are currently active in federal politics and campaigns. Please check all that apply.

Write for a political blog focusing on federal politics	30%
Write for an online publication other than a blog focusing on federal politics	8%
Write for a print publication focusing on federal politics	3%
Produce other media or "mashups" focusing on federal politics	8%
Volunteer for a political campaign at the federal level	41%
Work professionally for a political campaign at the federal level	12%
Donate money to a political campaign at the federal level	65%
Other	6%

Approximately how much money have you contributed to political organizations or campaigns over the past 12 months.

$0 - I haven't contributed	11%
Less than $50	10%
$50-$100	12%
$100-$150	9%
$150-$200	9%
$200-$300	10%
$300-$400	5%
$400 or more	32%
Prefer not to answer	1%

Do you work with a political organization, campaign or other such entity as part of your occupation?

Yes	32%
No	66%

Approximately how many hours a week do you devote to a political organization, campaign or website?

(Mean: 23.5, Median 12.5)

Had it not been for the advent of the Internet, do you think your level of activity in politics would be more, less, or about the same as it is now?

More	6%
Less	68%
About the same	25%

Demographics

What is your gender?

Female
40% Male
58%

Which racial or ethnic group best describes you? (Check applicable)

White	81%
African-American or Black	4%
Hispanic or Latino	5%
Native American	1%
Asian	3%
Other	2%

In what year were you born?

18-29	27%
30-39	23%
40-49	22%
50-64	22%
64+	2%

Please choose the term that best describes how you think of yourself in political terms.

Liberal	40%
Moderate	12%
Conservative	0%
Progressive	47%

Netroots Priorities: Iraq, Energy, Health Care, Poverty

Isaiah J. Poole — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:08:26 -0700

Netroots Nations participants have four clear priorities for the next president: ending the war in Iraq, addressing the global warming crisis, obtaining health care for all and clsing the growing gap between the rich and poor, according to a straw poll done by Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America's Future.

The straw poll was conducted over two days of the Netroots Nations conference and was designed to get a sense of what the political activists at the conference thought were the most important issues for the country and for the next administration.

Some of the key results:

Of the list of concerns below, which one of these is your top concern at this time?

Energy and global warming	19%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor	17%
Loss of constitutional rights	15%
The war in Iraq	11%
Corruption and special interests running Washington	10%

Which of the concerns listed below is your next top concern?

The war in Iraq	17%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor	12%
Loss of constitutional rights	12%
Lack of affordable health care	10%
Energy and global warming	9%

Which one of these should be the top priority for the next administration?

The war in Iraq	23%
Energy and global warming	20%
Lack of affordable health care	15%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor	12%
Loss of constitutional rights	7%

Which should be the next highest priority for the administration?

Lack of affordable health care	17%
Energy and global warming	17%
The war in Iraq	16%
The growing gap between the rich and the poor	12%
Loss of constitutional rights	10%

Sixty-eight percent of those who participated in the poll said that "not too much" has been accomplished by Congress this year, and when asked whether the blame was with Democrats or with Republicans, 43 percent said that Republicans were to some degree more to blame, and 29 percent said both parties were equally responsible.

Also, 72 percent of the poll participants said that Sen. Barack Obama should select a vice-presidential candidate "politically similar to himself, reinforcing the dynamic nature of his candidacy and the urgent need for change, and keeping true to his liberal roots."

For some MSM interpretation of the straw poll results, check out the latest from the Washington Post: What Do the Netroots Want? Straw Poll Offers Answers.

Van Jones: How to Win the Green Energy Fight

Isaiah J. Poole — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:04:41 -0700

It’s not just the country’s energy usage that has to urgently move from fossil fuels to new, sustainable energy sources, environmental and social justice activist Van Jones told Netroots Nation participants. The progressive movement itself, he said, has to go “from diesel to solar” in mobilizing the public and political leaders to action.

“We are getting our butts kicked by this drill, drill, drill” mantra from the right, Jones said, and progressives are going to have to move quickly to present the alternative as a win-win for all Americans, rather than the right-wing caricature of policies that will merely drive up costs to satisfy the whims of an elite.

Jones said that progressives need to couple a call for a crash program to switch away from fossil fuels—embodied by Vice President Al Gore’s call for a 10-year program to end fossil fuel consumption—with his Green for All program that emphasizes turning the switch to renewable energy into a massive jobs and economic revitalization program.

Jones recently toured the disappearing ice sheets of the Arctic with President Jimmy Carter and a group that included oil industry executives and people from the faith community. He said that the people who were on the trip, regardless of their political ideology, were convinced by the end of the trip that global warming needed urgent attention.

But Jones also reminded the audience that Carter tried to rally the nation around a clean energy and conservation agenda in the late 1970s, only to see his popularity collapse in a lethal combination of inflation and stagnant economic growth—“stagflation.”

Jones said the same toxic economic brew—sharply rising inflation and sluggish economic growth—could quickly undo Sen. Barack Obama just as it did Carter if he wins the White House. Only this time, the consequences could be much more dire.

“If we are not careful, if we are not smart, this could be the precursor to a right-wing backlash that would make us miss John McCain, Make us miss George W. Bush,” Jones said.

The elements of that backlash are already being put in place. Jones noted an alliance of “polluters and poor people” is already being incubated by the right. One of the front men of that alliance is Roy Innis, the leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, a 1960s civil rights organization that quickly turned into a shill for right-wing causes.

To blunt that backlash, Jones urged bloggers to pressure Congress to act on two bills that are currently stuck in legislative limbo. The Green Jobs Act and a green jobs block grant bill would unlock funding that would create thousands of jobs in clean energy and conservation projects. Most of these jobs would be in the urban areas that produce 75 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the country.

Jones is also seeking support for a fall campaign to accelerate the embrace of the country for green jobs. On September 27, Jones plans the largest-ever national mobilization for green jobs. This will not simply focus on the climate crisis. “This is a movement that will finally get the good things happening,” he said, one that will show how solar panel installation, for example, would mean that low-income people would no longer be saddled with high energy bills. This is a movement that will tell people in inner-city communities that “we want to put the green hard hat on you,” Jones said.

“We’ve got to move from diesel to solar” within the progressive movement, Jones said. Rather than pushing politicians on the issue of climate change and renewable energy, progressives need to pull them forward “by the beauty of our own vision, by the power of our own agenda.”

Blogging To Health Care For All

Bill Scher — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:14:18 -0700

At Netroots Nation, I talked with Melinda Gibson of the Health Care for America Now coalition, soon after she debuted a new (and hilarious) video taking on the insurance companies in advance of an expected battle between the public interest and special interest.

Gibson discussed how partnering with blogs can dramatically improve the ability to counter misinformation from the insurance lobby compared with the health care debate of 1994.

And here's the new HCAN video, "Insurance Company Rules":

Lessig at Netroots Nation

Rick Perlstein — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:14:20 -0700

In a Netroots Nation keynote speech, Larry Lessig made the point that Al Gore proposed that the 1994 Telecommunications Act contain a title deregulating cable and DSL. Congress, Lessig reports, went berserk: "How can we extort donations from the telecommunications industry," they basically said, "if we don't regulate them?"

The title was struck.

Lessig's point was that conservatives, too, should support public financing of elections. Because that means there might be less regulation—which the right claims to want. Because a considerable amount of regulation exists to make it easier to extort campaign contributions.

What do you think of the argument? Too clever by half?

Jim Hightower on Blogging and Populism

Bill Scher — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:37:18 -0700

Long-time Texas populist Jim Hightower shared a few minutes with me at Netroots Nation to talk about how blogging is changing the face of Texas politics, giving progressive populists a revitalized voice in the Lone Star State. He also discussed the degree of populism in the Obama campaign.

Blogging While Green

Bill Scher — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:07:22 -0700

A second environmental panel at Netroots Nation focused on "Debunking The Issue Silo Myth," the myth that environmental issues only exist in their own "silo," when in fact they are directly relevant to economic growth, poverty, health and national security issues.

Panelist Natasha Chart, who blogs about environmental issues on multi-issue blogs such as Open Left and MyDD, talked with me afterwards about how enviro bloggers can help make green issues more accessible, both inside and outside the blogosphere.

Then I spoke with Energize America leader A Siegel on how blogs can help citizens both draft and build support for economically powerful environmental legislation.

The Middle-Class Challenge

Bill Scher — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:15:00 -0700

Following the Netroots Nation panel on fighting for the middle-class, I spoke with panelist David Goldstein of HA Seattle, and got his take on the challenges bloggers face in framing the issues that impact the middle-class.

Poisoned Peppers, Poisoned Politics

Isaiah J. Poole — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:38:39 -0700

I was sitting in an Austin, Texas, restaurant, eating a concoction made with corn chips, chili and cheese, when the federal government announced that tomatoes that had been suspected as the source of an e.coli outbreak were now safe to eat. The jalapenos that topped the plate of food I was eating, however—well, we're not so sure.

Score another one for e.coli conservatism, where a bit of heartburn from too many peppers could be the least of your problems.

We've written much about how the agencies responsible for keeping our food supply safe have been weakened under the Bush administration. But in a session at Netroots Nation, a panel shed some light on how what is left has been co-opted by corporate food interests.

The consequence is that healthy food practices have been put under undue regulatory pressure—by an administration that protests about the burdens government imposes on small business—while large agribusinesses are allowed to engage in practices that have increased our safety risks, says Judith McGreary, the director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance in Austin.

McGreary, who runs her own livestock farm in Austin, is an advocate for small, sustainable farms. "One of our central problems is the centralization of our food supply," she said. When meats, vegetables and fruits travel thousands of miles to large processing plants, where workers are pressured to meet inflexible production quotas, the result is a setup for widespread food contamination problems.

That's just made worse by a political atmosphere in which "Big Ag permeates Washington, D.C.," she said.

How do we fix this? Panelists at the food session agreed that more has to be done to promote smaller, more localized farming operations. Food safety regulations should be tailored with the capacities of smaller farms in mind, but they should be tough. The benefit is that when there are safety lapses, their scope can be contained and the source more easily identified.

There are a host of other reasons why a buy-local movement is building among food advocates, but the safety of our food supply is among the most compelling. The conservatives' practice of allowing corporate agribusiness the untrammeled ability to reshape our food supply chain and the safety rules that govern it has literally made us sick.

Updated to correct the description of McGreary's farm.

Can Blogs Energize America?

Bill Scher — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:59:54 -0700

Energize America is a 20-point plan to achieve "Energy Security by 2020, and Energy Freedom by 2040," developed by citizen activists who gathered at DailyKos.com. The leaders of Energize America, joined by several rising political stars, just completed a Netroots Nation panel discussing how we can rapidly move America towards a clean energy future.

Mark Sumner (aka Devilstower at DailyKos), a geologist in the fossil fuel industry and leader of Energize America, talked to me afterwards about what needs to happen for the blogosphere to play a larger role in combating conservative misinformation about energy to help build strong support for a bold clean energy policy.