Congressional GOP Image Tarnished

The above chart was compiled from information gleaned in the Democracy Corps survey done between January 10th and 14th. It shows that the image of the House Republicans has been severely tarnished in the view of the American public. About 73% (nearly 3 out of 4) of the general public disapproves of the job the House Republicans are doing, and 48% strongly disapprove (nearly half the population). Only 23% approve.

We can safely assume that most Democrats don't care for what the House Republicans are doing. The 23% figure approving of their job shows that most Independents and even some Republicans also disapprove (since there are more Republicans than 23%). The chart below is interesting (from that same survey) because it shows what the Independents think of the two parties. The graph shows the number of Independents that consider the views of the parties to be extreme. Note that they consider the Republicans to be more extreme in nearly every area (except for the environment and climate change which is within the margin of error).

There is one area where the general public agrees with the House GOP -- that deficits and the national debt are too large and need to be reduced. But even in that area, the public disagrees with the GOP on how that should be accomplished. The GOP wants to cut taxes for the rich (and corporations), cut benefits for those on Social Security and Medicare and raise the qualification age for those programs, and drastically cut other social programs. But while the public agrees the debt and deficit should be reduced, they have a much different view on how that should be accomplished. This chart shows actions that the general public would approve of:

The Republicans can continue their efforts to cut programs helping the elderly and the poor and the unemployed, continue opposing LGBT rights, continue opposing women's issues (including choice), and continue trying to get tax cuts for the rich and corporations -- but all they will be doing is to further tarnish their image and make themselves look more extreme. The Democrats would love that, since they need to grab some Republican House seats in the 2014 election -- and the Republicans seem determined to play right into their hands. Current Republican policies may please the teabagger base, but it certainly doesn't look good to the majority of American voters.