Editor’s Note: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Wednesday in response to Tuesday’s election results:
“Across the nation, voters spoke loudly in favor of protecting and expanding health care, for fair wages and fair voting. Most do not think last year’s tax cuts are helping them. There are sharp partisan differences, but there is also a strong commitment to extending the benefits of a growing economy to more people.

“Forty-one percent told exit pollsters that health care is the most important issue facing the country, by far the biggest response. Idaho, Nebraska and Utah voted to expand their Medicaid programs, and governors were elected in a number of states because they pledged to implement Medicaid expansion. Arkansas and Missouri raised their minimum wage.

“A large majority of Florida voters expanded voting rights for ex-felons who have paid their debt to society. While some states did pass ballot questions to enact voter ID laws, Maryland voters approved same day registration and voting; Michigan and Nevada made voter registration easier.

“Large numbers of Americans do not agree with key elements of President Trump’s agenda: 46 percent said in exit polling that they believed Trump’s immigration policies were ‘too tough.’ A 59 percent majority support stricter gun control measures. When asked about the impact of the new tax laws on their personal finances, 22 percent said they were hurt and 45 percent said they felt no impact; only 29 percent said they were helped. Forty-six percent strongly disapproved of President Trump’s performance.

“The Coalition on Human Needs looks forward to working with the new Congress to move forward on an agenda that helps millions more benefit from expanded health coverage and help for working families. We, like most Americans, are sick of divisive and untruthful rhetoric. We will continue to convene thousands of organizations nationwide in the SAVE for All campaign (Strengthening America’s Economy and Values for All), organized around basic principles of protecting low-income and vulnerable people, shared economic growth and jobs, and fiscal responsibility through fair and adequate revenues and opposing waste, prominently in the Pentagon and wrong-headed anti-immigrant measures such as the border wall.”

(The current SAVE for All Statement of Principles, now being circulated among organizations nationwide for signatures, is here.)