As we bid adieu to 2022 and welcome in a new year, it’s the perfect time to look back at the most popular Cascadia Advocate posts of 2022.
Here’s the top twenty most read posts from the past three hundred and sixty-four days, in descending order. Note that two were published in years preceding 2022.
#20 | Steve Hobbs leads crowded field for Secretary of State (WA), with most voters undecided
Post premise/summary:
While a significant majority of voters (56%) said they were unsure, which was unsurprising considering the number of choices in the question, Hobbs was the clear leader among those who did offer an opinion, with 17% saying they would vote for him. No other candidate received support beyond 6%.
Published June 3rd, 2022
#19 | Jaime Herrera Beutler courts Democratic voters as 2022 Top Two election draws near
Post premise/summary:
The thirty-second television spot being deployed by six-term Republican United States Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler echoes themes repeatedly used by Democratic candidates to spotlight health care costs, an issue which the Democrats in this state have owned since the 1990s.
Published June 7th, 2022
#18 | Move Ahead Washington transportation package gets final legislative approval
Post premise/summary:
The package’s revenue bill passed 54–54 in the House and 29–20 in the Senate, while its appropriations bill passed 57–41 in the House and 30–19 in the Senate.
Published March 10th, 2022
#17 | President Joe Biden returning to the PNW for Earth Day, will stop in Portland and Seattle
Post premise/summary:
This will be Biden’s first trip to Washington and Oregon as President. Biden has already been to Idaho as President, stopping in Boise for a visit as part of another trip out west that he took last year. Biden was most recently in Seattle in 2019 during a pre-pandemic fundraising swing as part of his presidential campaign.
Published April 15th, 2022
#16 | Leesa Manion, Jim Ferrell tied in the 2022 contest for King County Prosecuting Attorney
Post premise/summary:
32% of a large sample of likely 2022 King County voters surveyed online this week for NPI by Change Research said they had voted or were planning to vote for Leesa Manion, the chief of staff to current Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, while 31% said they had voted or were planning to vote for Jim Ferrell, the Mayor of Federal Way, who is also seeking the office.
Published November 3rd, 2022
#15 | February 2022 King County school levies are passing, except for one Riverview levy
Post premise/summary:
Early February 2022 special election results are in here in Washington State’s most populous county, and they look good for schools and essential public services almost across the board, with only a couple of exceptions.
Published February 8th, 2022
#14 | Patty Murray’s double digit lead over Tiffany Smiley continues as October voting begins
Post premise/summary:
Asked about their preferences in this year’s Senate race from October 19th-20th, 52% of 782 likely 2022 Washington State voters said they planned to vote for Murray. 42% said they planned to vote for Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley.
Published October 21st, 2022
#13 | Democratic small business owner Marie Perez to challenge Jaime Herrera Beutler in WA-03
Post premise/summary:
“For too long, residents of Southwest Washington have been ignored by politicians in both parties who are more interested in catering to extremes than helping working people,” said Perez in a statement declaring her candidacy.
Published February 23rd, 2022
#12 | Poll Watch: KOMO/Strategies 360 confirms Patty Murray has double digit lead; Hobbs and Anderson tied for Secretary of State
Post premise/summary:
Washington’s Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray continues to enjoy a double digit lead over Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley, while Secretary of State hopefuls Steve Hobbs and Julie Anderson are tied at 38% apiece with less than a month until the midterms, a new poll from Strategies 360 and KOMO has found.
Published October 10th, 2022
#11 | Leesa Manion, Jim Ferrell tied at outset of King County Prosecuting Attorney contest, but Manion’s bio wins among the undecided
Post premise/summary:
Initially, 83% of likely 2022 voters surveyed for the Northwest Progressive Institute said they were not sure who they’d support, with only 8% backing each candidate. However, Leesa Manion jumped out to a lead over Jim Ferrell after “not sure” voters were provided biographical highlights of both.
Published August 1st, 2022
#10 | Documentary Review: “Saving Capitalism” highlights an important truth about markets
Post premise/summary:
Read NPI’s review of former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s new film about what happened to our economy, now available to stream on Netflix.
Published December 16th, 2017
#9 | Washington State Senate passes two critically important gun safety bills in evening session
Post premise/summary:
A pair of extremely important, much needed gun safety bills previously approved by the House of Representatives each received constitutional majorities in the Washington State Senate on March 1st, 2022 and are one step closer to becoming laws.
Published March 1st, 2022
#8 | Extremism Watch: Sinclair’s Jonathan Choe serves up lots of publicity for the Proud Boys
Post premise/summary:
Choe calls himself a journalist — he even emphasizes that label as part of his Twitter handle — but he rarely seems to practice what the Society of Professional Journalists defines in their code of ethics as journalism. On March 19th, he pretty much dropped any pretense of being a journalist and instead chose to act as a press agent for the Proud Boys during his afternoon in Olympia.
Published March 20th, 2022
#7 | Poll Watch: Trafalgar tries to bolster Tiffany Smiley’s longshot challenge to Patty Murray
Post premise/summary:
Subjective organizations are perfectly capable of carrying out objective research, but it appears that Trafalgar’s goal here (given their decision to publish these unsupportable figures) is to bolster Smiley’s longshot candidacy, rather than making a credible contribution to the body of public opinion research in this race.
Published September 2nd, 2022
#6 | A close contest in WA-03: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez narrowly trails Joe Kent, NPI poll finds
Post premise/summary:
Only three percentage points separated the candidates in the survey’s final head-to-head matchup, with Kent garnering 47% and Gluesenkamp Perez 44%. 9% are not sure. Those figures are almost identical to responses to the initial head-to-head question, in which Kent got 48% and Gluesenkamp Perez got 44%.
Published September 21st, 2022
#5 | Martin Luther King, Jr.: We have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws
Post premise/summary:
Take a few moments to read this excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail.
Published January 18th, 2016
#4 | Washington’s once sleepy special election for Secretary of State is now on the media’s radar
Post premise/summary:
In the 2022 Top Two election, incumbent Steve Hobbs faces three Republicans — Keith Wagoner, Mark Miloscia, and Bob Hagglund, along with Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson, who is running as an independent, plus a conspiracy theorist, Tamborine Borrelli, an unaffiliated candidate named Kurtis Engle, and one other Democratic candidate, Marquez Tiggs, who is running without money or party support.
Published July 30th, 2022
#3 | Senator Patty Murray regains double digit lead over Republican opponent Tiffany Smiley
Post premise/summary:
51% of 1,039 likely 2022 Washington State voters said they would vote for Murray if the election were being held today, while 40% said they would vote for Smiley, Murray’s likely general election opponent. 8% were not sure.
Published June 2nd, 2022
#2 | Documentary Review: Robert Reich’s “Inequality for All” is an essential film
Post premise/summary:
Read NPI’s review of Inequality For All, a film based on the work of progressive thought leader and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.
Published April 13th, 2019
#1 | 2022 U.S. Senate race tightens: Patty Murray holds steady as Tiffany Smiley gains ground
Post premise/summary:
50% of 700 likely 2022 voters surveyed in mid-February 2022 by Public Policy Polling (PPP) for NPI said they would vote for Murray if the election were being held today, while 41% said they would vote for Smiley. 9% were not sure.
Published February 18th, 2022
Honorable mention
This post wasn’t one of the twenty most-read, but it is probably my favorite:
Why the 2022 midterms in Washington State could look more like 2018 than 2010 or 2014
In this in-depth post for The Cascadia Advocate, NPI’s founder and executive director discusses how Republicans are working successfully to push reporters and pollsters to view the midterms on their terms and critiques Stuart Elway’s recent Washington State polling.
Published January 28th, 2022
NPI’s statewide and countywide electoral research was very popular with readers. Previously published reviews of Robert Reich documentary films were also a hit, along with our coverage of the contest in the 3rd Congressional District between Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Joe Kent. (Gluesenkamp Perez won, in what was called the upset of the year, but which was foreshadowed by credible polling).
Thanks to everyone who read the Cascadia Advocate this year. See you in 2023!
