The Progressive Change Institute conducted a nationwide cell phone poll in January to identify the major issues that concern voters. I was shocked and encouraged by the results. I was shocked because they indicate that the voters are more informed than I imagined them to be and I was encouraged to discover that a substantial majority of the voters are socially progressive. The results indicate that the center has moved decisively to the left leaving far behind the Republican Party, its tea-party core and the fifteen clowns competing for the party nomination in next year’s election for president.

The following issues received at least 70% support:

Allow Government to Negotiate Drug Prices (79%)
Give Students the Same Low Interest Rates as Big Banks (78%)
Universal Pre-Kindergarten (77%)
Fair Trade that Protect Workers, the Environment, and Jobs (75%)
End Tax Loopholes for Corporations that Ship Jobs Overseas (74%)
End Gerrymandering (73%)
Let Homeowners Pay Down Mortgage With 401k (72%)
Debt-Free College at All Public Universities (Message A) (71%)
Infrastructure Jobs Program — $400 Billion / Year (71%)
Require NSA to Get Warrants (71%)
Disclose Corporate Spending on Politics/Lobbying (71%)
Medicare Buy-In for All (71%)
Close Offshore Corporate Tax Loopholes (70%)
Green New Deal — Millions Of Clean-Energy Jobs (70%)
Full Employment Act (70%)
Expand Social Security Benefits (70%)

The poll was conducted long before Donald Trump began spewing his false and racist comments about a veritable tsunami of dangerous Mexican criminals pouring across the border to rape our women, plunder government services and inundate the South with gasp, drugs. Supposedly, there’s a whole lot of shakin’ going on, although I think it’s restricted to the ground because of fracking. Trump has remarkably surged into the lead in the clown poll proving yet again that Republicans continue inventing facts to appeal to prejudice and fear of minorities to get people to vote for them.

The strategy is repugnant to thoughtful and intelligent people and it’s hurting the Republican brand. I daresay it’s fun to watch.