Abstract
Over the course of 2008, the issue that would seem most determinative of the presidential election outcome changed several times. In January, as the nominating contests got under way, it appeared that the war in Iraq, which was in its fifth year with no foreseeable conclusion, might be the focus of the election. In the first caucus of the year in Iowa, the war in Iraq and the economy were tied at 35 percent as the issue Democratic caucus attendees listed as most important. In the Iowa Republican caucus, illegal immigration was listed most frequently (33 percent) as the most important issue by caucus participants.1 In New Hampshire, the first primary was held just a few days after the Iowa caucuses. The economy was selected over Iraq as the most important issue by a 38–31 percent margin among voters in the Democratic primary. In the Republican primary in New Hampshire the economy was listed as the most important issue by 31 percent of the voters, but when the Iraq and terrorism responses are combined the national security voters total 42 percent of the Republican electorate.
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Notes
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Both skeins of populism are covered in Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998).
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© 2009 Kevin J. McMahon, David M. Rankin, Donald W. Beachler, and John Kenneth White
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Beachler, D.W. (2009). It Was the Economy, Mostly. In: Winning the White House 2008. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100428_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100428_2
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