Voters Are Angry With Republicans

The cartoon above (from Ed Stein at edsteinink.com) pretty much sums up the mood of American voters right now -- they are angry, and that is unlikely to change before the next election (because their top issues, the economy and the lack of jobs, are probably not going to improve much by then). And with the very low opinion that voters have of Congress, that could spell doom for many incumbents.

A few days ago, I wrote a post saying I thought it was very possible for the Congress to flip again -- even though the Republicans have had a majority only since the 2010 election. That would be a record-breaking re-flip of Congress, but the voters are angry that Congress is doing nothing to address our economic and jobs problems. And more and more they are starting to see the congressional Republicans as the ones blocking efforts to solve these problems.

Now there is a very well-respected polling organization, the Pew Research Center, who is saying much the same thing. They believe the results from their recent survey (done December 7-11 of 1,521 adult voters nationwide -- with a 3.5 point margin of error) show that voters could well take out their anger on incumbents in the next election, and that the Republicans could be especially hurt. Look at these figures:


WOULD YOU LIKE FOR MOST MEMBERS OF CONGRESS RE-ELECTED?

General Public
Yes...............20%
No...............67%
Don't know...............13%

Independents
Yes...............15%
No...............73%
Don't know...............13%

WOULD YOU LIKE FOR YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO BE RE-ELECTED?

General Public
Yes...............50%
No...............33%
Don't know...............17%

Independents
Yes...............37%
No...............43%
Don't know...............19%

Now if I were a congressman representing a swing district (one where the number of Republicans and Democrats are roughly equal), I think those numbers would worry me -- and most of those swing districts are currently be represented by Republicans (thanks to the 2010 election). Not only is the 50% who would like to see their representative re-elected a historically low figure (it's usually up over 60%), but the Independents (who will make the decision in those districts) are in a very anti-incumbent mood -- even when it comes to their own representative.

But it could become even worse than that for the majority party in the House. That's because the survey shows the people are more angry with Republicans than with Democrats. And if this feeling continues to grow the next election could be a disaster for the Republicans. Look at the following numbers:

IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE SYSTEM OR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS?
System...............32%
Members of Congress...............55%
Don't know...............14%

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE "DO NOTHING" CONGRESS?
Republicans...............40%
Democrats...............23%
Both...............32%
Don't know...............4%

WHICH PARTY IS MORE EXTREME IN ITS POSITIONS?
Republicans...............53%
Democrats...............33%
Neither...............1%
Don't know...............13%

WHICH PARTY IS MORE WILLING TO WORK WITH THE OTHER SIDE?
Republicans...............25%
Democrats...............51%
Neither...............12%
Don't know...............13%

WHICH PARTY CAN BETTER MANAGE GOVERNMENT?
Republicans...............35%
Democrats...............41%
Neither...............13%
Don't know...............12%

WHICH PARTY IS MORE HONEST AND ETHICAL?
Republicans...............28%
Democrats...............45%
Neither...............16%
Don't know...............11%

Notice that the answers to every one of those questions favors the Democrats over the Republicans, and they represent a significant change from the public's feelings before the 2010 election. If the Republicans were smart, they would cooperate with Democrats to improve the economy and create a bunch of new jobs. If they did that it would be unlikely that the House would flip again in 2012 (since voters tend to give more than just two years to a Congress they see as trying to get something done).

But the Democrats need not worry that the Republicans will sudden;y become reasonable and try to actually improve the economy and create jobs. The Republicans are too locked into their political ideology -- to favor the rich with massive tax cuts, cut social programs that help hurting Americans, and block all efforts to create jobs. All the Democrats need to do is keep telling the truth about those Republican efforts.