Most Voters Need to Broaden Their Focus on Issues
Reading online commentary in many places has led me to the conclusion that many Democratic and Progressive voters, perhaps even a majority of them, have a very narrow focus when it comes to issues. It often seems as though individual voters each have an issue that is foremost in their priorities. One issue. What that issue is for each individual voter is different and really pretty irrelevant in a national election. Maybe it's jobs. Maybe it's the minimum wage. Or, it could be the cost of higher education or racial inequality. There's a long list of important issues that range from policies that concern the Israel/Palestine question to global climate change. It often seems like each voter has one issue or policy that consumes his or her thinking and blocks serious consideration of the entire spectrum of issues.
Where such a narrow focus exists, and it doesn't for everyone, of course, minor disappointments in a candidate's position on one issue can sometimes cloud support for that candidate altogether. In some cases, it leads voters to simply skip an election or to vote for some minor candidate who is more in line on that position, but who has no chance whatever of getting elected. That kind of narrow thinking can lead to the election of a candidate who is on the wrong side of every issue. That has happened frequently, most recently in the case of George W. Bush.
In presidential elections, it's important, it seems to me, to try to broaden one's perspective and consider issues that may be secondary for individual voters, but that are primary issues for many others. Our Presidents are not, and cannot be, single-issue people. The job requires an exceptionally broad world view and an ability to look at many issues with an eye on making improvements, if not wholesale changes. Voters who are not faced with college debt, for example, need to think about that, because it is a primary issue for many others. Voters who are not nearing retirement need to remember that they will, one day, be needing to consider the issues associated with that, and take those issues into consideration. Straight, white, male voters need to look seriously at issues of importance to minorities, LGBT people and women.
There is no single issue that outweighs all other issues. There never has been and never will be. There is, instead, a whole host of issues that affect people's lives and that must be considered when choosing a national candidate for President. Whoever is elected will have to deal with all of those issues throughout a term in office. A President's focus must be broad and comprehensive, so how we examine candidates for that office must similarly include all issues, not just those that affect us individually.
The presidential election is a binary one. One of only two candidates will win. Third party candidates do not matter. Every serious voter needs to choose whichever candidate is better on the entire range of issues a President will face during the next four years. A presidential election is not an election about individual issues. It is an election about a more general philosophical point of view. I encourage everyone to vote for and support the candidate from the two major parties who best represents your own personal, overall political philosophy, regardless of whether or not that candidate is 100% aligned with your views on your most important issue.
This is my opinion. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
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We all need to expand our education about issues and yes, stop rejecting or voting for candidates based on a single or narrow range of issues. And not just at the presidential level. Our democracy demands compromise in order to function, not just by the pols, but by the electorate.
This time, though, I'm a single issue voter for president. The issue being that Trump is Trump. 
