Staff Photo by Laura-Chase McGehee/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Former state GOP chairwoman Robin Smith addresses supporters gathered at the Sports Barns after learning of her loss to Chuck Fleischmann in the Thursday evening battle for the GOP primary in southeast Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District.In recent weeks, the Donald Trump-Mike Pence GOP presidential ticket has been echoing an oft-repeated declaration, “We’re going to drain the swamp!” While this proclamation has been a winning call to action for the center-right, it’s clear that voters on the left were saying much the same but were cheated.
The Gallup research firm has included a consistent series of questions in an annual tracking poll dating back to 1972. When assessing trust and confidence in the government, the question posed was “How much trust and confidence do you have in our federal government in Washington when it comes to handling international and domestic problems?” The yearly poll also includes the same line of questioning to gauge the level of trust and confidence in the U.S. Congress and the media. As shown in the negative trends, the distrust is indisputable and explains a great deal of the last two years of unprecedented voter anger.
For example, 50 percent of respondents had “not much” trust in the federal government to deal with international problems, and 55 percent had “not much” trust in government to deal with domestic problems. For Congress, the “not much” percentage jumped to 63 percent. The media scored worst, with 68 percent of respondents expressing “not much” confidence from the public.
While the slugfest on the political right has featured the upset of establishment presidential candidates schooled to rule with resumes polished and poll-driven for the national stage, the untold story on the left is breaking through in the final moments of an unbelievable election cycle.
The favoritism shown Hillary Clinton by the Democratic National Committee in the primary that resulted in the resignation of former Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to pacify loyal Bernie Sanders supporters has been eclipsed by revelations found in more leaked emails. The interim DNC Chairwoman, Donna Brazile, a political analyst for CNN until last week, had two specific email chains made public, documenting her sharing of town hall questions with the Clinton campaign to give the candidate an edge over Sanders.