Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made major speeches this week, and both were, in several respects, talking about exactly the issues the public wants them to discuss. This is good for the election process and good for the nation's democracy.
One key is the parallel focus on jobs, about which both Trump and Clinton talked in some detail. Trump, who on his website proclaims he will be the greatest job-producing president in American history, said he will bring in "massive new factories" that will come "roaring into our country -- breathing life and hope into our communities." He continued to say, "Wages will start going up, along with the new jobs," and even chanted in his speech, "Jobs, jobs, jobs!" Clinton, somewhat more restrained, said she would undertake a "100-days jobs package" and make "the biggest investment in new good-paying jobs since World War II," and that "I do have a jobs program. And as president, I'm going to make sure you hear, 'You're hired!'"
As far as the American people are concerned, these focus points are squarely on target with what they want to see addressed. Not only is the economy the most important problem facing the country today according to our data, but the economy and jobs are the top issues Americans want the candidates to be discussing. And, as I reviewed here, when it comes to the economy, nothing is more central to Americans' thinking than jobs.
How effective either Trump or Clinton would be in actually following through on these promises is another thing, of course. Promises are easy to make, but difficult to execute -- particularly when the inaction-plagued Congress is involved. But the key point is that both candidates are addressing the precise top issue (or at the least one of the top issues) on which the American public wants them to focus.
The similarities in the two candidates' speeches didn't end there. Both spoke of the value of increased investments in infrastructure. In his typically subtle and understated way, Trump vowed to "build the greatest infrastructure on the planet Earth," while Clinton derided Congress for failing to make "common-sense investments that used to have broad bipartisan support, like rebuilding our roads and our bridges, our tunnels, our highways, our airports."
And here, too, the candidates are in tune with the average American. Our data show that 75% agree with the idea of investing in infrastructure, one of the highest levels of agreement of any of over 75 policy proposals tested.
And there's more. Both candidates, in their own way, derided the way the "system" works today. Trump said that the types of changes he proposes can't rely on fixing a "rigged" system by "counting on the same people who rigged it in the first place," and stated that the whole system was rigged against "you, the American people." Clinton said that it would be difficult to "imagine all this getting done when Washington is so broken." And, "There's no question we need to make Washington work much better than it does today, that means, in particular, getting unaccountable money out of our politics."
As our recent research has documented, Americans are highly likely to agree that members of Congress are too accountable to financial contributors, special interests and lobbyists. These feelings help explain why less than 10% of Americans have confidence in Congress. They also explain why the public's perception of a broken government is one of the central concerns of our time and validates that Trump and Clinton acknowledging these facts is a major positive, as far as the public is concerned.
Of course, both candidates, shall we say, went off in totally disparate directions when it came to other aspects of their speech -- namely their sometimes vituperative criticism of one another. Trump lambasted Clinton throughout his talk, including calling her "the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency." Clinton, for her part, both began and ended her speech with criticisms of Trump and what she said was his lack of "real solutions."
But the negative criticism aside, the encouraging thing is that the candidates are -- at least at this juncture in the campaign -- focusing on many of the concerns their ultimate bosses, the American people, want them to address.
