Poll: Voters Approve Of Obama's Budget, Prefer Democratic Positions Over Republicans
A new poll for NPR, conducted jointly by GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, finds a clear majority of Americans preferring Democratic positions over the Republican ones on the various issues surrounding the federal budget.
The poll presented likely voters with a statement of what Republicans will say about budget issues pertaining to taxes, health care, energy and the deficit, rotated with Democratic statements about those same topics. The Dem positions were ahead 52%-43% on taxes, 53%-42% on energy, 53%-42% on health care, and 51%-45% on the deficit.
And when respondents were asked whether they favored President Obama's plans on the budget, it was 50% approval to 41% opposition.
But it's still a center-right country, right?
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
What's with this "center-right" fetish? Considering the GOP is a far-right fringe group of wackos, isn't it distinctly possible (even likely) for people to be center-right and support Obama over the GOP every day of the week?
Instead of fighting it, dems should embrace and OWN the center...left, right or otherwise. IMO the proper response to an assertion of a center-right nation is "... and the center-right has clearly rejected the republican frame and now support Obama's democrats".
Why would you want to drive people who self-identify as center right back into the arms of the GOP by continually asserting they are irrelevant? Isn't that just feeding into the GOP's preferred culture war?
March 17, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric has a nice dry sense of humor.
March 17, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
With the notable exceptions of Larry Craig and David Vitter, what discernible positions do the Republicans have?
March 17, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been trying to figure that one out myself. Beyond the lying whenever they speak, the bulk of what they say is just noise. No solutions. No proposals. No positions. Nothing.
March 17, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope polls like this enable some of our less reliable Congresscritters to develop backbones, but I can't say I'm all that optimistic.
March 17, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Proof once again of how out of touch and clueless the mainstream media is and how pathetic what passes for political dialogue is.
March 17, 2009 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of polls...I don't know if anyone checks the Gallup Site but, on the top they've got some indicators for Job Approval, consumer spending, state of the nation etc. Many of them have been moving in a positive direction slowly. I'd say overall America is becoming more optimistic.
These numbers coincide with Pollsters ratings which are graphs of multiple polling sites. You can see clear indications American's mood regarding economy, congress, satisfaction of U.S. and if we are going in the right or wrong are all moving in a positive direction. Even the average for Obama's favorables and job approval remain fairly high.
March 17, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I listened to the report on NPR this morning, and it struck me as annoyingly negative. After reporting the actual numbers, the final word was given to the idea that Republicans are gaining ground. WTF? If there were any other halfway decent source of morning radio news available...
March 17, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink