Letter to the Editor: References Please

Two of the letters in the August 24th issue had me wondering where people get their “facts.”

The letter from Judy Brodd claimed that in a recent poll 81 percent of Americans felt health care was the most important issue to be considered for the fall elections. The only poll I could find that had health care above the economy and immigration was the Huffington Post, and they had it at only 30 percent. [The poll Brodd referenced was a CNN poll from Aug. 16, 2018.]

Gloria Dougherty in her letter supporting Tammy Baldwin claims the recent tax cut created or led to increases in the deficit. I checked several sites and all showed that tax receipts are up [receipts for individual income taxes did rise in 2018, but total receipts had a very marginal rise at less than one percent, according to politifact.com].  

Both mention plans to cut Social Security. I’m sure that if there ever is a serious threat to Social Security it will be the lead story on every media outlet for weeks. I checked. There are no real plans to cut your Social Security. It is a shameless scare tactic.

I enjoy reading the letters to the editor to learn what my neighbors are thinking and why, but if they are not giving me facts I can confirm it leads me to wonder about all of their claims.

Vivian Nienow

Sister Bay, Wis.