You couldn’t help but notice during the long months of the recent campaign that President George W. Bush and Republican candidates all raved about the state of the nation’s economy, repeating like a broken record how well off we all are and how much better off we’d be if we stayed the economic course.

Of course, working Americans who experience the reality of economic life today had a different point of view—and acted upon it in the election.

So says Geoff Garin, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, in a guest column now at http://www.aflcio.org/. Hart conducted extensive pre- and post-election polling to gauge voters’ attitudes.

Garin says many so-called pundits agreed with Republican strategists’ theory that an improved stock market and somewhat low unemployment rate would drive voters to their candidates. Wrong, says Garin.

Polling conducted before the election shows the employment rate is not a good measure of Americans’ real confidence in the economy. A significant majority believe (rightly so) that the new jobs we are adding to the economy are not as good as the jobs we have lost, both in terms of pay and benefits. In polling conducted for the AFL-CIO, most Americans say that even if you get a good education and are willing to work hard, it is hard to find a job in today’s economy that is both secure and good paying.

Read Geoff Garin's column here