It’s not a scientific sample, of course, but a Republican Party survey of state fairgoers reveals an interesting top concern: “protecting rights and privacy.”
The GOP offered the survey at its State Fair booth and received more than 2,200 responses. The privacy issue — stated as “to protect our private information and constitutional rights” — was the number one concern of 20 percent of the participants.
After privacy, participants ranked “family budgets” and “health care solutions” as other concerns. The last three issues of concern, in descending order, were “demand integrity, to crack down on cronyism, deception, and corruption,” “maximum opportunity, to support maximum employment and achievement, not just getting by,” and “every child deserves a chance, to focus on the kids and families being left behind in our education system.”
Republican Party chair Keith Downey said he was initially surprised that privacy emerged as a top concern when the party conducted a similar survey at its state convention in May. “But since then, the issue has become more prominent, especially for young people and on the heels of the data breaches that continue to hit the news along with the IRS and NSA scandals,” he said.
Downey said the party developed the list of issues by talking with key political constituencies: young people, women, minorities, rural Minnesotans, and seniors. “In trying to understand what was important to them, we found the results are pretty consistent with what you see other polls,” he said.
Furthermore, Downy said, although State Fair respondents were mostly self-identified Republicans, “What’s important doesn’t depend on partisanship.” But Downey acknowledged, “The solutions will differ depending on your political preference.”