Public Agrees With Democrats (But Some Don't Know It)

There are some in Congress and running for Congress (mainly Republicans) that want to capitalize on the country's deficit to make huge changes to social security or even do away with it altogether by privatizing it. A recent Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll (taken July 26th thru 29th) shows this could be a serious mistake to take this position prior to the upcoming election.

People in general do consider the deficit to be a serious problem. In fact 51% would like to see cuts in spending and say they are considering voting Republican in November because of this. But when the poll is broken down into separate issues it becomes clear that these people don't actually support Republican initiatives -- just the Republican idea that cuts must be made.

It is clear that the Democrats are not making their positions clear enough, because people actually support Democratic positions on taxes, Medicare and Social Security. They would just like to see some cuts in other areas (although those areas are not specified), and would like to see taxes raised on the rich. Here is what the people think on these issues:

Should cuts be made to Social Security to reduce the deficit?

Yes...............28%

No...............68%

Should retirement age for social security be raised to 70?

Yes...............33%

No...............65%

Should the Medicare age be raised from 65 to 67?

Yes...............36%

No...............60%

Should the cap on social security payroll taxes be eliminated?

Yes...............63%

No...............28%

Should Medicare be eliminated and seniors be given vouchers for private insurance?

Yes...............25%

No...............65%

Would you support a 3% federal sales tax (except for food items)?

Yes...............34%

No...............62%

Should the Bush-era tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000?

Yes...............54%

No...............41%

Should tax breaks be eliminated for corporations that export jobs overseas?

Yes...............64%

No...............32%

Should a tax be created on excess profits by Wall Street banks?

Yes...............62%

No...............31%

These issues all break in favor of the Democratic positions, and just shows that the Democrats have not made their positions clear enough. They must get this done much better in the next couple of months. Right now, these majorities would be voting against their own beliefs to vote Republican in November.

And just to answer those who might think this poll was weighted with too many liberals and not enough conservatives, let me give you the answers to a couple of more questions asked in the poll.

Are you a liberal, moderate or conservative?

Liberal...............19%

Moderate...............30%

Conservative...............46%

Who did you vote for in the 2008 race for president?

Obama...............45%

McCain...............46%

Who did you vote for in the 2008 election for Congress?

House Democrat...............41%

House Republican...............43%

If anything, the poll was weighted toward conservatives and Republicans, and yet a clear and commanding majority support the Democratic position on these issues (although some don't seem to realize that). It should be interesting to see if the Democrats can make their positions clearer to the voters in the next couple of months.