Some Interesting Results From Latest CNN Poll

 

The charts above reflect the results of the CNN / SSRS Poll -- done between August 21st and September 1st of a nationwide sample of 2,077 adults, with a 2.7 point margin of error.

GOP Votes To Protect The Rich From Taxes

(Cartoon above is by Joel Pett in USA Today.)

It is common knowledge these days that the rich (and the corporations) don't pay as big a tax rate as middle class Americans do. A perfect example is Republican presidential candidate Willard Mitt Romney, who pays from 13% to 15%, depending on the year, while making over $20 million a year (without working a single day). There are thousands of others who pay no taxes at all, even though they make over a million a year.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the unfairness of this, and presidents of both parties (from Reagan to Obama) have said it should not be. They believed that the rich should not be allowed to pay a smaller tax rate than those in the middle class. But the congressional Republicans disagree. They think it's just fine for the rich to pay a smaller rate, and in fact, they would like to lower that tax rate for the rich even further.

President Obama has proposed a bill commonly called the "Buffett Rule". This bill would insure that the rich pay their fair share in income taxes (at least about 30%). On Monday, that bill came up for a vote in the Senate -- well, at least they had a vote on whether to bring it up for a vote (since the Republicans are filibustering it). It would have taken 60 votes to end the GOP filibuster and bring the bill to a vote.

The bill's sponsors were not able to get those 60 votes, because the Republicans (with the lone exception of Susan Collins from Maine) all voted to kill the bill. The final vote was 51 to 45. This doesn't come as a real surprise, since the Republicans have consistently voted to protect the rich from having to pay their fair share of taxes. They constantly whine about the deficit being too large, but they want to lower it on the backs of hurting Americans (the poor, the elderly, the children, the unemployed, etc.) -- not by making the rich pay a fair tax rate. Here's what President Obama had to say about it:


Senate Republicans voted to block the Buffett Rule, choosing once again to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest few Americans at the expense of the middle class.


The Buffett Rule is common sense. At a time when we have significant deficits to close and serious investments to make to strengthen our economy, we simply cannot afford to keep spending money on tax cuts that the wealthiest Americans don’t need and didn’t ask for. But it’s also about basic fairness—it’s just plain wrong that millions of middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some millionaires and billionaires.


One of the fundamental challenges of our time is building an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules. And I will continue to push Congress to take steps to not only restore economic security for the middle class and those trying to reach the middle class, but also to create an economy that’s built to last.


This is not going to help the Republicans come the November election. That's because numerous polls have shown that a clear majority of American's support the "Buffett Rule", including a majority of Republicans. A new CNN/ORC Poll shows the following percentages of Americans in favor of the president's proposal:

All Americans...............72%

Men...............70%
Women...............73%

Republicans...............53%
Independents...............69%
Democrats...............90%

Under 50...............74%
50 and older...............67%

College...............69%
No college...............75%

Under $50,000...............79%
Over $50,000...............67%

It seems that the only group where a majority opposes the "Buffett Rule" is among congressional Republicans. You can bet the Democrats will be beating this drum all the way to election day.

Voters Don't Trust Or Like Romney

Recent polls have shown Independent and women voters moving to support President Obama in large numbers -- numbers large enough to give the president a lead in the very important swing states. Now a new poll has come out, and it gives the president a 9 point lead among registered voters nationwide (52% to 43%) and a 12 point lead among the public in general (53% to 41%).

Why are the voters moving away from Romney as though he had some kind of communicable disease? The answer for women is obvious. He has publicly supported the congressional Republican's "war on women". What about other Americans? Well, the CNN/ORC Poll released yesterday tried to answer that question with a series of questions about the voters views on Romney and Obama. It seems that the voters just don't like or trust Romney and don't think he has their best interests at heart. Consider the answers to the following questions:

WHO CAN GET THE ECONOMY MOVING?
Obama...............44%
Romney...............42%

WHO AGREES WITH YOU ON ISSUES MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Obama...............49%
Romney...............37%

WHO IS MOST IN TOUCH WITH PROBLEMS FACING THE MIDDLE CLASS?
Obama...............51%
Romney...............33%

WHO IS IN TOUCH WITH THE PROBLEMS FACING WOMEN TODAY?
Obama...............55%
Romney...............27%

WHO CAN BEST HANDLE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMANDER IN CHIEF?
Obama...............52%
Romney...............36%

WHO IS THE STRONG AND DECISIVE LEADER?
Obama...............50%
Romney...............34%

WHO IS THE MOST LIKEABLE?
Obama...............56%
Romney...............27%

WHO IS MORE HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY?
Obama...............44%
Romney...............33%

WHO SHARES YOUR VALUES?
Obama...............49%
Romney...............37%

WHO STANDS UP FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES IN?
Obama...............50%
Romney...............29%

WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO CHANGE HIS POSITIONS FOR POLITICAL REASONS?
Obama...............39%
Romney...............47%

WHO IS A PERSON YOU ADMIRE?
Obama...............44%
Romney...............25%

WHO CAN MANAGE THE GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVELY?
Obama...............46%
Romney...............38%

WHO INSPIRES CONFIDENCE?
Obama...............50%
Romney...............30%

There was one more question that was very revealing, and showed a lot about what each candidate's supporters think about them. It was -- Are you voting to support your candidate or voting against his opponent? Here are the numbers on that:

OBAMA SUPPORTERS
Voting for the candidate...............76%
Voting against opponent...............23%

ROMNEY SUPPORTERS
Voting for the candidate...............35%
Voting against opponent...............63%

The voters just don't have a very high opinion of Willard Mitt Romney -- not even the voters in his own party.

Government Or Wall Street ?

If you've been watching the mainstream media lately, you've probably been given the impression that there is a huge backlash against Obama and the Democratic Congress since they passed the Stimulus Bill. Nothing could be farther from the truth, according to the newest CNN/Opinion Research poll.

Wall Street, the Banks and the Auto Executives (and other corporations) would have us believe that if we just keep giving them billions of dollars and don't nationalize or otherwise constrain them, they'll magically bring this country back to prosperity. They might have gotten away with that a few years ago, but the populace has been awakened. The people know these corporate barons of excess are not the solution, but the problem.

Only 30% of the people believe Wall Street will make the right decisions to bring us out of the recession. Bankers have the confidence of 28% of the people, and auto executives do even worse with only 26%.

The people have much more faith in government than in business right now. About 66% have confidence in the decisions of the Democrats in Congress. President Obama fares even better. About 75% of the people believe President Obama will make the right decisions to end the recession. Amazingly, even 37% of Republicans believe Obama will make the right decisions.

Also interesting is the fact that only 37% approve of giving more money to auto companies and 36% would give the rest of the TARP money to financial institutions, while 62% are opposed. But while they don't want to throw more money at corporations, the people don't feel the same way about homeowners in trouble. Over 60% favor the government helping ordinary Americans facing foreclosure.

The Republicans are making a serious mistake by fighting Obama on everything he's trying to do right now, and that includes Jindal, Perry, Sanford and other governors who hurt ordinary Americans by refusing some of the stimulus funds destined for the ordinary people of their states. If they keep trying to obstruct President Obama, they could be in for a nasty surprise in the next election.

Right now, President Obama has a huge mandate from the people -- they believe in him (far larger than any mandate Bush tried to claim). I hope he'll not only use that mandate to solve the economic crises, but also the health care crises. Over 70% of the poll's respondents said they believed it was time to "increase the government's influence over the health-care system in an attempt to reduce costs and expand coverage."

Obama's off to a good start with the economy. Now he needs to build on that good start to fulfill his other promises of change.

Nation Is Happy With Dems In Control

As the last month of the campaign wound up, John McCain tried to scare Americans by not only trying to paint Obama as a socialist, but also with how it would be bad for the country to have Democrats in charge of both the White House and Congress. But it looks like his threats fell on deaf ears.

It looks like America is very happy to have Democrats in control of both branches of our government. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows that 59% of Americans think it's a good thing to have Democrats in control of both the executive and legislative branches of government. Only 38% think it's a bad thing. It looks like the public really is ready for change, and knew that leaving Republicans in charge of anything would only result in stalemate.

The poll gets even better for Democrats. About 62% of Americans have a favorable view of Democrats in general, while only 31% have an unfavorable opinion. Things don't look nearly so well for Republicans though. Around 54% of the public have an unfavorable opinion of Republicans, while 38% have a favorable opinion. It looks like the Republicans have a lot of work to do to get back in the game.

This is the highest favorable rating for Democrats in over 16 years. It shows the Democrats really do have a mandate to act and make necessary changes. But the public doesn't want Republicans completely ignored in the making of these changes. Seven out of eight of those polled want the Republicans included in the process.

It seems that the huge majority have bought into Obama's quest for unity.

Most Unpopular President In Modern History

It seems like the longer Bush stays in office, the more unpopular he becomes. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that he is now the most unpopular president in modern American history. The poll shows that 71% of the American people disapprove of the way Bush is doing his job.

The polls have been doing monthly presidential ratings since the Truman administraion, and this is the first time any presidet has ever had over 70% disapproval rating. The previous highs were 67% for Truman in January 1952, and 66% for Nixon in August 1974. The party out of power won the next election in both of those instances.

The same poll showed that most Americans are now opposed to the Uraq War. A full 68% of the people now oppose the war, while only 30% support it. Back in January, Bush had nearly half the population believing that things were improving in Iraq. But now, only 39% think things are going well there.

With Bush's popularity sinking lower, the only question seems to be whether he'll bust 75% disapproval before leaving office. I think he can do it.

Nationally, Democrats Prefer Obama

Things just seem to keep getting worse for Clinton every day. Obama leads in the total delegate count by about 120 delegates. He also leads in the number of states he has won, and also leads in the total number of votes received.

Clinton claims some kind of advantage because she has won in some of the bigger states. That is a silly argument, because a win in the primary doesn't guarantee she would win those states in the general election, or that Obama couldn't win there in the general election.

The argument also fails when you compare his "small states" to her "big states". The states won by Obama add up to more electoral votes than the states Clinton has won.

It even looks worse, when you consider that Obama has added over forty superdelegates to his total in the last month, while Clinton has actually lost some superdelegates.

Yesterday, there was even more bad news for the Clinton campaign. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll says that the majority of Democrats in America as a whole prefer Barack Obama. The poll, conducted March 14 thru March 16, says that Obama is the preferred candidate of 52% of Democrats.

About 45% of Democrats would prefer Clinton be the nominee. The 7% difference is larger than the sampling error of 4.5%. This poll makes it even harder for Clinton to claim the superdelegates should give her the nomination. The superdelegates would not only have to overrule the majority of delegates, but also the majority of Democrats nationwide.

It is time for Clinton to start thinking about how to gracefully exit this race. Her continued attacks on Obama are just helping John McCain, and frankly, are starting to smell like sour grapes.