“What I’d really go for is a president who would get up and say he’s closing all our U.S. factories in China and India and Mexico, and bringing the jobs back to the United States. You know, everything I’m wearing right now is made from somebody making five cents an hour, and I still think that’s a form of slavery. And we’ve got plenty of people in this county who are on welfare, who aren’t working and could use a manufacturing job making a pair of jeans, or a pair of socks.”
(Chad Covant, 34, of Norwich, N.Y., occupational therapist in Norwich, N.Y., Green Party)
“So many middle-class people are struggling. So many people’s salaries have not gone up. So many people still do not have jobs. It’s a huge issue. They have to face it in order to have a strong culture. They have to face the growing healthcare crisis. And I believe they will. I think the healthcare issue is probably the most important, but I believe the education issue is very close behind it in importance. Both systems just need to be changed completely.”
(Amy Bryan, 46, of Auburn, N.Y., kindergarten teacher at Owasco Elementary School, Democrat)
“Honestly, I think the new government should outlaw guns. Because, as you see what happened with the Sandy Hook situation, a lot of children – innocent children – ended up dying. Everyone’s talking about guns, guns, guns. If we didn’t have any guns, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
(Justin Jones, 21, of Manhattan, N.Y., employee at Shoe Department Encore, student at SUNY Oneonta studying mass communication, unaffiliated with a political party)
“Providing more jobs, not only our community, but communities everywhere. Making sure that everyone has either standard healthcare or, you know, some type of healthcare because there’s people out here who don’t even qualify for like Medicaid or anything. Also, making sure the schools are safe for children, because I have a 1-year-old and I don’t want to send him to school scared what might happen to him.”
(Latrina Fenell, 20, of Syracuse, shoe salesperson at DSW Shoes in Destiny USA, unaffiliated with a political party)
“More money for defense. More money into the military. We need to build up a strong defense, for the terrorists out there. Healthcare’s always an issue. We need more money for that, obviously. A lot of people don’t have any healthcare, so we need to make sure we get everybody taken care of. A lot of people out there don’t have any time of healthcare at all. Obviously we need new jobs.”
(Steve Jones, 42, of Baldwinsville, Navy recruiter, Republican)
(Tyler Greenawalt is a junior with dual majors in newspaper and online journalism and political science.)
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