ARVADA, Colo. (AP) — Eight years ago, Barbara Conley was one of the millions of Americans swept up in Barack Obama's promises of hope and change when he accepted the Democratic nomination at a packed football stadium a few miles from her home in the Denver suburbs.
But those optimistic days are almost unrecognizable to Conley now.
While race relations and the threat of terrorism dominate the national news, Massachusetts voters at the state level are more concerned about jobs, the economy, and the worsening opioid epidemic, according to local polling data reviewed by the NewBostonPost.
Sixteen percent of respondents named jobs as the topmost concern, followed by the opioid crisis at 13 percent, according to the Suffolk University poll released in May. That reflects a shift from six months ago when Suffolk found that illegal immigration and the state budget were foremost on the minds of voters, with 12 percent of respondents identifying each as their top issue. In that poll, 11 percent identified drugs as their number one issue, while 10 percent pointed to jobs.
