Public Turning Against Congressional Republicans

The Republicans were riding high after the last election. They had won control of the House of Representatives and picked up several seats in the Senate, and they were sure they had been given a mandate from the voters to go back to their policies of help the rich and cut programs helping everyone else. But they may have gone too far.

Recently they have protected unneeded subsidies for giant corporations (many of which aren't even paying taxes while they make billions in profits) and made public their desire to give the rich even more tax cuts. But they have also said they want to abolish Medicare and replace it with a voucher system, and expressed their desire to cut social programs across the board (regardless of who or how much they help).

It looks like the truth is beginning to sink in to Americans -- the fact that Republicans care only for the rich and are willing to toss everyone else under the bus. The good poll numbers the Republicans were enjoying right after the election are now starting to turn around, and if the trend continues (which is very possible since the Republicans are attacking very popular programs in Medicare and Social Security) the Democrats may be able to flip the Congress in 2012 and regain control.

This is born out by the numbers in a new Public Policy Polling survey done between April 7th and April 10th of 532 registered voters. Here are some of the questions and answers:

IF THE ELECTION WAS TODAY WOULD YOU VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT IN YOUR DISTRICT?
Republican...............41%
Democrat...............46%
Not sure...............13%

DO YOU THINK REPUBLICANS ARE DOING A BETTER JOB THAN DEMOCRATS DID WHEN THEY CONTROLLED THE HOUSE?
Better...............36%
Worse...............43%
About the same...............19%
Not sure...............2%

WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AS MORE MAINSTREAM OR MORE EXTREMIST?
Mainstream...............40%
Extremist...............48%
Not sure...............12%

WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS MORE MAINSTREAM OR MORE EXTREMIST?
Mainstream...............46%
Extremist...............39%
Not sure...............15%

The Republicans were counting on being able to convince most Americans that the national debt was out of control due to deficit spending, and that the way to fix that was to make cuts to all domestic programs (except Defense and corporate subsidies), abolish Medicare and give more tax cuts to the rich. So far those views just haven't achieved the traction the Republicans were hoping for.

The cuts to domestic programs is close, but American views on taxing the rich and abolishing Medicare are squarely against the Republican policy stands -- in fact, even their own Republican base opposes their attempt to abolish Medicare. Here are the numbers of the newest Gallup Poll taken April 11th of a random sample of 1004 adults:

SHOULD THERE BE ADDITIONAL CUTS TO DOMESTIC PROGRAMS?
All adults...............Yes 45% --- No 47%
Republicans...............Yes 64% --- No 31%
Independents...............Yes 44% --- No 48%
Democrats...............Yes 31% --- No 60%

SHOULD TAXES BE INCREASED ON THE RICHEST AMERICANS?
All adults...............Yes 59% --- No 37%
Republicans...............Yes 37% --- No 60%
Independents................Yes 60% --- No 37%
Democrats...............Yes 78% --- No 19%

SHOULD MEDICARE BE ABOLISHED OR RADICALLY CHANGED?
All adults...............Yes 31% --- No 61%
Republicans...............Yes 34% --- No 61%
Independents...............Yes 30% --- No 58%
Democrats...............Yes 30% --- No 67%

These results couldn't be clearer. The public is in favor of raising taxes for wealthy people and very much opposed to changing or abolishing Medicare. If the Democrats are smart they will ride both of these two things all the way to the next election -- especially the Republican desire to abolish Medicare. Anytime a Democrat says anything between now and November 2012, he/she should make sure to mention the Republican desire to abolish Medicare (and privatize Social Security). This is an issue that could even cost Republicans some of their base (note that 61% of Republicans don't want Medicare damaged).

It looks like the Republicans may have overplayed their hand in their desire to serve corporate interests at the expense of everyone else.

By the way, the American people approved of the budget deal recently done by fairly large margins, but did not see it as a victory for either party -- and this cut across political lines:

APPROVE OF COMPROMISE DEAL
All adults...............62%
Republicans...............58%
Independents...............60%
Democrats...............71%

BELIEVE IT WAS A VICTORY FOR NEITHER SIDE
All adults...............56%
Republicans...............54%
Independents...............59%
Democrats...............54%