(RightWing.org) – In psychology, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that human beings count access to food, water, shelter, employment, and property ownership as foundational elements to a stable life. Therefore, it is no surprise when threats to those elements arise — whether real or merely anticipated — that people turn their fears into action, seeking to change the government in their country. Sometimes at the ballot box, sometimes with violence.
In America
The United States is in the midst of a contentious election season with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump the presumptive candidates for their respective parties on the ballot in November. There are many issues that pollsters are finding Americans are deeply concerned with.
The New York Times/Siena poll from June (pre-debate) asked “What one issue is most important in deciding your vote this November?” The largest segment of the registered voters (22%) replied that it is the economy including jobs with the second highest number of 16% saying it is the immigration problem caused by Biden’s red carpet at the southern border.
In a post-debate poll taken June 30-July 2 by The Economist/YouGov, they inquired of their pool as to what they felt was the importance of each individual topic, not with an open-ended question as the other did. There, 97% of the respondents said that jobs and the economy were important with little deviation across all demographics and an overall 86% response to the immigration issue with likely Trump voters and other Republicans/Conservatives at 95%+.
And Abroad
However, these concerns are not unique to the United States, according to a survey of voters by Reuters/FOCALDATA just collected before the vote for the overall European Union (EU) parliamentary elections, the number one thing that people across the continent said would influence their vote is the economy/inflation.
This type of government system is unfamiliar to many Americans, and while there are scheduled voting dates, the heads of the individual nations can call “snap elections,” as France’s President Emmanuelle Macron and Great Britain’s then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did in June and May respectively.
Both France and Great Britain have been faced with economic and immigration problems (there the issue is a sharp spike in Muslim refugees from places like war-torn Syria) along with some last-minute surprises that have raised concerns among Conservatives regarding election integrity similar to those in the United States. Pundits around the world became panicked when it looked to be an almost certainty that Right-wing groups would win an outright majority in France while the Left wing would finish third among the three major factions.
However, once the French vote was cast and counted, the Liberals took over the largest number of seats in the lower chamber, leaving many scratching their heads. The new British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, reportedly holds the opinion that the resolution of the war that the Palestinians began with Israel must include a two-state solution; the Leftists who made such big gains in Paris have vowed to recognize Palestine as its own country.
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