What The Public Wants Congress To Do

The Republicans and Democrats have a very different vision for America, and for what they think the American people want them to accomplish. A new Gallup Poll shows they are both partially right and partially wrong about what the people would like to see Congress accomplish in this session.

The poll was completed January 14th through 16th, and has a margin of error of 4 points. Here is what the respondents said about 8 broad goals (with the numbers shown being those who are in favor of the issue):

PASS AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BILL
General...............83%
Democrats...............93%
Independents...............82%
Republicans...............75%

OVERHAUL THE FEDERAL TAX CODE
General...............76%
Democrats...............74%
Independents...............77%
Republicans...............77%

SPEED UP WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN
General...............72%
Democrats...............86%
Independents...............72%
Republicans...............61%

EXPAND OIL & GAS EXPLORATION
General...............65%
Democrats...............52%
Independents...............62%
Republicans...............83%

APPROVE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH S. KOREA
General...............53%
Democrats...............53%
Independents...............55%
Republicans...............50%

PASS STRONGER GUN CONTROL LAWS
General...............49%
Democrats...............68%
Independents...............47%
Republicans...............30%

DENY BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP TO CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
General...............44%
Democrats...............36%
Independents...............44%
Republicans...............51%

GIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A PATH TO LEGAL STATUS
General...............43%
Democrats...............64%
Independents...............39%
Republicans...............27%

This poll shows that it should be possible for Congress to pass a sensible energy policy in this session, because doing so would not be detrimental to politicians of either party. Majorities in all three political groups would like to see more investment in alternative energy sources. And majorities, although smaller, would also like to expand drilling for oil and gas. An energy bill that combined these two efforts would be popular with the ordinary citizens in all three groups.

Another move that would be popular with all political groups would be speeding up the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan. A clear majority of Republicans would like to see this (while even larger majorities of Democrats and Independents would be in favor). The American people can see, even if the government can't, that nothing is being accomplished in Afghanistan, and nothing is likely to be accomplished by staying any longer. It's time to end that mess.

Then things get a little less clear. Only about half the population would like to see a free trade agreement with South Korea. While business sees this as an opportunity and a job creator, I think a lot of people (including myself) think of it as just more opportunity to outsource American jobs. This might be more popular in a good economy, but in our current jobless recession it will be a hard sell to many people.

The idea for more stringent gun controls also creates a split among the population. Even after the Arizona tragedy, it will be hard to get any new guns laws passed. In the current climate, it may even be impossible to outlaw the extended ammunition clips.

Then we come to immigration. There is little doubt that our immigration laws are a mess and something needs to be done. But a recession, especially one that's taken as many jobs as this one has, is a bad time to do that. Recessions bring out the xenophobic elements of society, who blame the immigrants for job losses. It's not true, but it may be hard to convince people of that until the economy improves (and that could be quite a while). This will be a very messy and unpopular issue for Congress to tackle right now.

Then we have the idea of limiting birthright citizenship. Along a slim majority of Republicans like the idea, it is not popular with Independents and Democrats. People generally like the constitutional idea that anyone born in this country is a citizen, and regardless of what the teabaggers in Congress think, it would not be popular with most people to try and change this.