Washington—Swing voters across the country are more receptive than ever to an agenda of investment in America’s future, according to a poll released today by USAction and USAction Education Fund.  The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, surveyed 600 likely swing voters in swing districts from Jan. 22-28, 2008.  The study is believed to be the first of 2008 that draws respondents strictly from swing voters in swing states and districts.

"These swing voters embrace the investment agenda by a convincing margin, and their own definition of change reflects many of the items in the investment agenda," said Anna Greenberg, who ran the poll for GQR.  "Voters are focused this year on issues like ending the war in Iraq, addressing the health care crisis and developing a new energy policy."

"Underlying the support for the agenda is a clear sense that we have had the wrong priorities and that the war in Iraq has taken away from a focus on our problems at home," Greenberg said. "This agenda speaks to these voters' overall desire for change."

In an attempt to harness the country's demand for change, USAction, USAction Education Fund and their affiliates and partners in 25 states are launching the Invest in America's Future plan, a more than $10 million effort to move the country toward a new era of prosperity and opportunity for all Americans.

"The results of this poll confirm what many of us have been saying for some time now – the American people are not just receptive to progressive priorities, they’re demanding them," said USAction Program Director Alan Charney.  "After seven years of George Bush, we’ve seen what happens when we don’t make the necessary investments in health care, education, infrastructure and jobs, and the services millions of Americans rely on.  It’s time for change, and it's going to begin with grassroots activities all across the country."

Under the Invest in America’s Future plan, USAction and USAEF will:

1. Encourage current and future members of Congress to be champions for the investment agenda
2. Build grassroots coalitions and activate grassroots constituencies in favor of the investment agenda
3. Reach out to a new generation of voters who are clamoring for change
4. Mobilize and persuade voters to raise the profile of the investment agenda in 2008 and among our elected leaders in 2009

The Invest in America's Future agenda will predominately be driven by a nonpartisan grassroots effort, focused on door-to-door, face-to-face conversations with voters, and increased dialogue between voters and candidates about our issues.  USAction and USAction Education Fund will work with their allied organizations to carry the same message: lawmakers must embrace this winning issues agenda in 2008 – and deliver on it in 2009.

Investment in America's Future begins with a fundamental change in the upside-down priorities that have become a hallmark of the last seven years.  With rising concerns about an economic slowdown and continued spending on a disastrous, endless war in Iraq, the American people are eager for congressional and presidential leadership for Investment in America’s Future. 

These investments would include expanding access to quality child-development and preschool programs; strengthening public schools; expanding college aid; and providing access to high quality, affordable healthcare for all.  The initiative also would promote safe, clean energy to help end our dependence on foreign oil.  In order to pay for these investments, the plan calls for Congress to eliminate recently passed tax cuts for corporations and for those with incomes exceeding $200,000 per year, and enact new measures to hold government accountable and reduce corruption and waste. The Invest in America’s Future agenda is deficit-neutral because it roots-out waste and would save billions of dollars by ending the war in Iraq.

The voters surveyed in the poll are not the progressive base or the typical antiwar crowd; they are the swing and independent voters who will determine the outcome of the 2008 election – and they support the investment agenda by better than a 2-to-1 margin.  Seventy-four percent of them say the country is on the wrong track. They want change, and USAction and USAction Education Fund plan to deliver just that.

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USAction builds power by uniting people locally and nationally, on-the-ground and online, to win a more just and progressive America. We create the nation's leading progressive coalitions, making democracy work by organizing issue and election campaigns to improve people's lives.