Republicans Squandering Their New Chance

It looks like the American people are putting their politicians on a short leash these days. After the disastrous Bush administration they decided they wanted the government to take action to create jobs (to replace the millions of jobs lost) and get the recession under control. They turned to the Democrats in the 2008 election. When the Democrats failed to act boldly to fix the economy, they replaced many of them with Republicans last November. The people want something done and they not in a mood to be patient.

And a recent Pew Research Center poll shows this clearly. Although the new Congress (with the Republicans in complete control of the House of Representatives) has only been in session for a couple of months, the public is not happy with how things are progressing there. They think the politicians in Congress are more interested in fighting with each other than fixing the economy. About 49% of the public thinks the tone of the debate in Congress has been rude and disrespectful (even though other recent polls have shown the public wants Congress to work together).

Congress and the public seem to have a different idea of what is important. When asked what was the most important priority for the government to tackle, the people said:

Job situation...............34%
Rising prices...............28%
Federal deficit...............24%
Financial & housing markets...............10%
Other problems................3%
Don't Know...............1%

But the Republicans seem to be ignoring the problems most people care about. They have been making a big deal of the federal deficit and social programs they would like to cut, but so far have totally ignored job creation and rising prices. And the public doesn't like the Republican approach to the budget deficit. Back in November the Republicans held an 11 point edge over President Obama on who the public thought could handle the deficit better. Since them they have dropped by 14 points. Here are the number for November 2010 and March 2011:

NOVEMBER 2010
Republicans...............35%
President Obama...............24%
Not much difference...............33%

MARCH 2011
Republicans...............21%
President Obama...............20%
Not much difference...............52%

The Republicans are having a good time attacking the president and Democrats right now, but it is not selling well to the public. They had some good will after the November election, but they've blown that now. And while the Republicans have tried to convince people that their draconian budget cuts will help to create jobs, the people know better. Here's how the people think the cuts will affect job creation:

Help...............18%
Hurt...............34%
No effect...............41%
Mixed...............1%
Don't Know...............6%

And the people aren't buying the Republican argument that changes to Social Security and Medicare are necessary either. A huge majority opposes cuts to these programs:

Favor...............30%
Oppose...............65%
Don't know...............4%

The Republicans may have thought the public wanted them to return to their failed "trickle-down" economic policies after the last election, but they were wrong. The people were just trying to shake things up so Congress would take them seriously and do something about jobs and the economy. The Republican failure to realize this has already cost them their advantage, and if they don't fix this they could find themselves again booted out in the next election.

In fact, right now the 2012 election is wide open, because the people are generally mad at both parties. But while the public is disappointed in Democrats for their timidity, the Republicans are starting to scare them with their drastic budget cutting and war on Social Security & Medicare. If the Democrats want to win, they need to live up to their 2008 promises. If the Republicans want to win, they need to abandon their failed economic policy of favoring the rich.

Opportunity exists for both parties in 2012, but only if they start listening to and acting in the best interests of ordinary people.