Executive Summary

This survey provides a unique look at the American electorate, examining our history and new social and economic currents and marks out the space for boldness in our national presidential elections. The public is fully conscious of the scale of change taking place around them and ready for policy innovation and change, for bold government initiatives. As we shall see, these are fully consistent with a practical strategy for winning voters’ confidence and winning elections in 2004 and beyond. While voters are divided evenly in their partisan preferences, large cross-cutting majorities believe the country faces very serious problems and needs to approach them in wholly new and bold ways. The boldest policy proposals - whether offered by the president, candidate John Kerry or a simulated bold likeness - win the broadest support and have the biggest impact on the vote.

Today, voters look around and see a bevy of problems before the country. The most serious, requiring the biggest changes in the way we do things, include: the global terrorist threat, the faltering health care system, the skyrocketing federal budget deficits and the state of the country’s schools. In all these areas, a majority of Americans say we face a “very serious problem" and need “major changes in the way we do things."  That worry about the building, perhaps unaddressed problems in the country leaves an electorate hungry for the policy innovators. Voters are ready to respond to new ideas, particularly bold ones.

Methodology
These results are based on focus group discussions conducted in Charlotte and Cleveland and a national survey of 1,000 likely voters. Surveys were conducted for Public Interest Projects from April 5 - 8, 2004.

Key Findings

• Voters are hungry for new ideas and bold and innovative policies
• The boldest policy proposals - whether offered by the president, candidate John Kerry or a simulated bold likeness - win the broadest support and have the biggest impact on the vote.
• Terrorism topped the list of issues that would require major changes in how we approach them. The next biggest concern was the health care system; then the federal budget deficit and the state of schools in our country