Music. Most focus groups happening now are about politics in general and the 2024 election in particular, but Harris versus Trump only tells us some of the story. If you really want to know what’s going on in America, you have to ask Americans themselves about the conditions in the country that trouble them the most, and then listen closely to their answers, and that’s exactly what we did. I’m calling this segment what keeps you awake at night, because the answer to that question will tell you about everything you need to know about your fellow Americans and what’s on their minds. I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and welcome to the latest installment of America speaks only on straight. Oh news. My favorite polling question of all time is to ask people what keeps them awake at night, because that tells me what really matters to them and what really matters to the country. So Justin, you start what keeps you awake at night,
the overall confidence in the American way of life and how we’re perceived through the rest of the world.
Brittany, how would you answer that question?
I was saying that the the division of leadership, so nothing personally, but more so on a rural standpoint.
Roberto, what keeps you awake at night?
I think, as a parent of three kids, the pricing hike on everything.
Sheila, economics and violence.
Kimberly,
how’s your first day in session? And how am I productive? Right as a woman?
Aaron, what keeps you awake at night?
The economy.
What about the economy?
The price is going up. I know the President can’t control everything, but I would like a president that can, that can take on these issues and have these discussions, but it’s getting costly to eat food and clothe your kids.
Tiffany, what keeps you awake at night?
I would say cost actually.
Larry, what keeps you awake
the economy and how it can affect our kids as a father, and also just the crime in this country,
no one issue, one issue. Larry,
it would be the economy and prices and what we’re leaving our kids when it comes to that economy.
Sylvia,
what keeps me awake at night is the amount that billionaires will go to avoid to pay taxes. Louise,
what keeps me awake at night is national security and cyber security and how we’re so behind on everything. Carrie,
what keeps me awake is I’m worrying about the future of my own two kids and all the kids in this country, both financially and their freedoms. Bella,
inflation and just the cost of everyday expenses going up and higher. Evelyn,
what keeps me awake, awake at night is hoping and praying that violence will come to a halt in this country
and Krista human rights, more specifically, women’s rights. I think it’s a scary thought that throughout my mother’s life, she potentially could have more rights than my future. When
I asked what kept people awake at night. In the past, they would tell me about their kids, their schools, their jobs, something about themselves and their own lives. But now, with technology changing how we interact with the world, life has become national, even global. And so the concerns have become national, even global, and nothing matters more to more people than the cost of life. Inflation and affordability factored into almost every answer, and even though inflation has come down, the impact of high prices remains the same. Let’s hear what our panel of voters had to say. Almost all of you said something that’s a national issue rather than a local issue. Do you think that the country’s in trouble?
I think the country is strained. I think it would be a more appropriate term to use right now.
And why do you strained?
Just because of a lot of I think the internet in general has allowed everybody to get their opinion out into the world much easier. And for once, going back to what I said earlier, a small subset of the population, who we call the keyboard warriors, regardless of which side you’re on, they are very aggressive, and they are they have become very good at being able to gaslight the American public into getting angry at one another instead of focusing on the issues of work. In the government, why
are you focused somebody else? Why you focus on national issues and not issues that affect you personally?
I think that so many people are so angry so often. I agree with Justin and it’s and it’s translated to crime. It’s translated to people trying to push people off the road when they’re driving. I know that I speak to people all the time, and people walk around angry. They bump into people. They don’t care. It is a scary time in America.
Somebody else, and the violence, I mean, is so terrible, and we’re in the we’re we’re going the wrong directions, or the the gun laws and things that that hadn’t been 1020, years ago. And now is everything goes now. It is no leadership. It’s no right direction to for this country to, you know, you don’t know what it’s going to happen from one day, one minute to one minute to another, not day, but one minute to another. You
all agree with that.
It does seem like a lot of us in our 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, about a lot of once in a lifetime experiences. In our lifetime,
I barely go to Manhattan anymore. I actually think about, should I go to the city, or can I avoid it because of the crime?
So are things really getting worse in this country? Oh, yes. Okay, show of hands if you think things are ahead in the wrong, wrong direction. I want to know why it’s gotten that bad. Uh, Aaron, I’m going to start with you, and then Sylvia, I’m going to go to you
the discourse. The discourse has just been a sharp decline. Whether it’s the connection through social media or it’s our leaders, they feel like they want more power than they do want to solve problems anymore.
Sylvia, well, I
believe that Trump has been running this show for the GOP for a while now, and he’s not even in office. And I just feel like there’s a lot of different hands that are keeping him there, like SCOTUS, for example, the Supreme Court.
Why are things getting so bad in this country? Almost all of you said we’re off on the wrong track. Tell me why. Krista,
I also agree with power. It seems like they mainly just want power instead of to really protect and change the world in a better way.
Larry, how would you respond?
I think that we’ve gotten to a point where politicians are just trying to get elected, and they’re not worried about solving problems, because if they try to do that, then they’re going to alienate enough people that they’ll become unelectable. And that’s why I’m I’m in favor of term limits for that reason. Ella,
I feel what? Everything is just stressful, from economy to crime, and it’s just not going in right direction.
Roberto, are you stressed?
I will say, you know, in a way, yeah, because I think it’s more about, like everything pricing wise, going high. I feel that it’s taken a toll on a lot of families around the US, and you can feel it every month. It’s just like living paycheck to paycheck, and that kind of adds a little bit of a stress on a lot of us.
Sheila, how do you respond? Um,
I think that inflation is driving the crime rate way up, and it’s causing a lot of problems for everybody. And like Martin’s lady said earlier, I too am now afraid to go to Manhattan. I used to love to go there. I just don’t.
These sessions generate a lot of attention and a lot of commentary. Probably the most common and most important is about solutions. What can we do as individuals and what can our leaders do as elected officials to fix this mess? So I asked the panel give a solution to the problems you’ve just identified. Well, here’s what they had to say. So anyone got any ideas about how to fix this? It’s easy to complain. Anyone want to go and give me the answer to how to address it so this so you don’t have that anxiety and that you don’t lose sleep.
Anybody vote? Get somebody, oh,
voting. I mean, I just moved to Florida from California, and April, the beginning lot, end of March, 1 of April, I applied to be a voter. And I just looked at the vote.org and it wasn’t showing that I was signed up yet. And I’ve got paperwork in the mail. I’m like, what I had to actually go up there? So, like. I’m trying to be as involved as possible. And now I’m like, Well, I looked, what about all the people who don’t look so that makes me really scared.
Evelyn, go ahead. Yeah. We
need to, like, like this young lady was just saying, Sylvia, yeah. We need to all get come together more vote, because we can talk all this all day long. And if we don’t have a community to help, you know, to to address these situations, then what is in vain. So these are still going to come the, you know, be the way they are, until all of us pump, pull together and try to make this country because we were holding up the country. We can’t blame the President or anybody else. It’s going to take us, because if we don’t, if we vote for a certain amount of, I mean, a person, a certain person, then that person would lead and we’re in the right direction. But if we’re just sitting quiet and let this person take charge and don’t do anything for nothing, then who are we? We’re just going to have to deal with what we do until we leave this earth. You’ve just
witnessed what few people get to see an uncensored, almost unending conversation about the anxieties average everyday Americans feel on a day to day basis. And you will only hear conversations like this on America speaks right here on straight our news. I’m Dr Frank Luntz, now, before I sign off, I urge you to take a look at some of the other conversations we’ve had over the past year. They’re all listed and available right here on the straight arrow news website. Thank you very much for listening, and I’ll see you next week