{"id":31786,"date":"2012-11-07T09:42:49","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T14:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2012\/11\/07\/obama-has-a-mandate-sort-of\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:11:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:11:38","slug":"obama-has-a-mandate-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/11\/07\/obama-has-a-mandate-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama has a mandate. Sort of."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Bruce Stokes, Director of Pew Global Economic Attitudes, Pew Research Center<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that the election is over, the hard work begins. The U.S. economy is <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/07\/business\/obama-global-business-reaction\/index.html\">careening toward a so-called fiscal cliff<\/a> that could dramatically shrink output in 2013. Confrontations loom with Iran over its nuclear weapons program and China over its trade practices.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet while the American people have <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/06\/politics\/election-2012\/index.html?hpt=hp_t1\">chosen Barack Obama<\/a> to navigate these shoals over the next four years, they remain deeply divided over what to do about these challenges. Obama has a mandate to govern, but his mandate on specific issues is far from clear. His biggest challenge may be to bridge the divides among the American people.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The economy was issue number one for voters on election day: 59 percent named the economy as their top concern, 15 percent said the government deficit, according to election day exit polls released by AP. The results echo a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/06\/politics\/exit-polls\/\">CNN exit poll<\/a> that suggested 60 percent of voters see the economy as their top concern, with 38 percent saying that unemployment was their top economic worry.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unless a comprehensive deficit reduction plan is agreed upon by January 1, 2013, dramatic cuts to U.S. defense and social welfare spending and significant tax hikes will kick in.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The non-partisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2012\/08\/22\/us-usa-debt-cbo-idUSBRE87L0JV20120822\">estimates<\/a> that implementing such measures would shrink the American economy by 0.5 percent in 2013. Such a course would ripple through a global economy already hobbled by recession in Europe and a slowdown in China, India and Japan.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the full commentary at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com\/2012\/11\/07\/obama-has-a-mandate-sort-of\/\">CNN&#8217;s Global Public Square blog<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obama now has a mandate to govern. But his mandate domestically, and internationally, on specific issues is far from clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[75,235,93],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-31786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-economic-policy","category-issue-priorities","formats-report","research-teams-global"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":256,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/11\/07\/obama-has-a-mandate-sort-of\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Obama has a mandate. 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