Posted on 10/25/2009 4:59:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
A poll of opinion polls shows that Americans are undergoing rapidly changing attitudes.
RealClearPolitics, a national polling aggregator, shows that Americans are becoming less and less thrilled about the direction of the country and with the job Congress is doing. Support has been peeling off steadily, says RealClearPolitics executive editor Tom Bevan.
The danger for the Obama administration and the Democrat Party is the independent voters' shift away from Democrat policies.
“Independents have flipped negative,” warns Bevan, who mans the polls for a living. “That’s not a good thing for any party.”
You need to look no further than the data coming out of the first gubernatorial races since the Democrats took control of Washington to identify voter angst and ire.
Gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia appear to be heading in different directions but are, in fact, two sides of the same coin.
In Virginia, a state that swung first in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb in his Senate race then further to Obama in 2008, Republican Bob McDonnell is leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by wider margins with each new poll.
In New Jersey -- a state that has been Democratic for years (the last time the state went for the GOP presidential candidate was in 1988) – the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Jon Corzine, continues to average about 40 percent of the vote, while his Republican challenger Chris Christie has fallen more than six points in the past two weeks. The beneficiary of Christie's descent has been Chris Daggett, an independent who is winning support in the double digits.
“What do these phenomena have in common?” says Villanova political science professor Lara Brown. “In two words: disillusionment and disgust.”
Americans, particularly registered and likely voters are disillusioned and disgusted with both political parties and their candidates, who seem to be over-promising, under-delivering, asking for too much, and taking advantage of their positions, explains Brown.
Americans are simply worn out by inflated rhetoric and the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" existence of the Washington insiders who just a few months ago said they were outsiders.
Voters are left wondering what happened to the candidates they voted for? The voters thought their candidates were avengers -- people who were going to clean-up Washington’s corrupt culture, stop partisan bickering and remove those bad Wall Street titans who retained their fat bonuses only because taxpayers bailed out their companies.
Recent polls show Americans are simply fed up:
• A CNN poll last week suggests that most people no longer agree with Obama “on the issues that matter most to them."
• Rasmussen's numbers show that 31 percent “think Congress has a poor understanding of the health care proposal,” down four points from August (which, if you recall the summer town hall meetings, was not a high point for congressional approval). Worse, according the poll, only 18 percent “think the (health care) plan will be a bipartisan effort."
• Another Rasmussen poll shows only 49 percent “think that the economy will be stronger in five years than it is today.”
• Most Americans are "very concerned" about the economy and 60 percent “think the economic conditions are getting worse," a new Gallup poll shows.
Adding to these fears is Iran and its apparent move toward developing nuclear arms (or at least, according to CNN, "9 in 10 Americans" think they are) and we don't seem able to either stop or even (as was promised) talk to them.
Add to that Afghanistan, which people think is spiraling out of control.
And few Americans seem to understand the President's unwillingness to sit down, focus on the issue and make a decision. It is as though they are wondering, "Why is he in motion all the time, and does he ever actually sit at the Oval Office desk to work – like the rest of us?”
Add to this, the embarrassing scandals and all-too "typical" allegations of corruption and partisan politics: Tax problems for Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY; questionable loans for Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn; and adulterous liaisons for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev, and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina.
Further, only 39 percent of GOPers have a favorable impression of their party chair, Michael Steele, with other polls suggesting that Americans feel like the Republicans are merely "obstructionists."
The White House simply added insult to injury with is fight with Fox News. What happened to the days when presidential administrations stayed above the media fray? Most people are wondering how the White House can even bother to think about this "issue" when it has so many other important matters at hand.
“When you look at all of these things, it is no great surprise that the thousands of Tea Party activists haven't embraced any one political party and that Glenn Beck's anti-administration, small-government, pro-individual freedom tirade continues to draw some of the highest ratings of all three cable news networks,” observes Brown.
What does all of this portend?
Very possibly, a Ross Perot-moment, or the emergence of someone who is going to come forward with serious charts and serious language that angry Americans will see as authentic, rather than the glitz and glamour of the sales pitch of "hope and change."
And her name is Sarah Palin!
Exactly! It took him all those words and still couldn’t do it in the end by naming her. Does one ever thing that maybe part of her reason for resigning was also due to the fact the way she has been treated by the GOP elites? A good hunter knows how to stealthly stallk her game.
The fickle middle pretty much likes things the way they are (well, were) and just wants to be left alone. 0 has upset the apple cart. Virginia is about to demonstrate how much distaste 0 is leaving in the voters’ mouths.
If only that were true! We certainly would not have gone down the drain so far and so fast!
And it is painfully obvious that not one deserved word of thanks to even ONE Republican for stopping the Democrats or a serious effort to clean up the mess, which most of us have had to take on all by ourselves without the Republicans help.
Instead, Republicans keep trying to come up with their own version of Socialist government. And they know it.
They don’t call her Sarah Barracuda for nothing and that reputation leads me to wonder if she might entertain a third party nomination to stick it to them or would she rather become the party nominee to rub their noses in it? Either way, I don’t think she’s done with them. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
If the Republican party wishes to survive, it must quickly develop and get behind the 2010 version of the contract for America. This polling data clearly indicates the population perceives the party as having no message other than “no”. It is clear people are looking for a different direction. The party just needs to articulate one and start campaigning. However, without strong leadership there can be no message.
The health care debate is an example of a missed opportunity. Obama is defining his opposition as obstructionists. He keeps repeating the Republicans are not constructive because they’ve offered no alternative. While Republicans have introduced health care bills in the House, this fact is missed because they haven’t gotten behind one alternative and campaigned for it. Instead, by opposing the Obama bill without seeming to offer a constructive alternative, they appear to be negative.
We are in the middle of an economic depression with rising unemployment, two wars, and unprecedented debt. While the people voted for the message of “Hope and Change”, the reality of the change is not what they anticipated. The time is ripe to offer an alternative message that speaks to a bright future for a great country. Obama is vulnerable in so many areas — fiscal policy, foreign policy, economic policy, culture, oppressive government — but unless the GOP can articulate a positive message, consistent with core American values, it will not receive support.
The Contract for America was powerful because it articulated the type of government the majority of citizens wanted. It succeeded in making the Republicans the majority party. They failed when they stopped delivering on the contract.
The party needs a leader. In the absence of one, I can’t understand why Boehner, McConnell, and Steele can’t come together, develop the message and go public with it. Their inability to do so suggests either absence of vision or extreme weakness. Remember, when the Dems came back into the majority in Congress during the Bush administration, Reid and Pelosi were able to articulate the liberal agenda.
The opposition party must articulate alternatives. Just saying “no” is not enough.
The dems are marxists and thats a fact, but the GOP politicians are liberal now (except for a few good men) and why waste a vote on just another liberal?
Excellent way to phrase what she is doing right now... :)
As long as Bobby Jindal does the charts. Palin-Jindal is THE ticket. Charisma and Brains.
With obama in office, that is a good thing.
“Charisma and Brains.”
I’d prefer Brains and Brains, thank you very much. Obama’s got “charisma” to the left, but he’s falling like a sinking rock.
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God." - George Washington
all I can say is that if she runs for another office, the attacks on her, lawsuits, etc. which supposedly were the reason she resigned as governor are going to INCREASE EXPONENTIALLY.
I'd prefer brains and common sense, preferably with a lot of been there, done that experience which is why, for me, Sarah Palin outshines all other candidates so far, especially those with ivy league pedigrees.
I'm tired of the damage the brainiacs with Zero common sense have done to everything they touch. If I can only have one quality in a politician or any one else, it is common sense.
“Independents” & “Progressives” are people who don’t want to admit that they are liberal democrats, and who always vote Democrat,
... unless the sun forgets to come up ... or perhaps, we can hope ... unless a Fascist in the WH and his Dem buds in Congress are trying to completely destroy the country within a year’s time.
Well, with Palin-Jindal, I believe that that is what you really have. I certainly do NOT believe (as even some here appear to) that Palin is a dummy. Far from it.
But charisma certainly is a BIG help toward electability. Reagan had it, Bush I did not. Clinton had it, Bush II had it, Gore did not. Obama had it, McCain did not.
Nothing ever came of any of that charachter assasination, the worst since Bork, and there was a lot of sympathy for her. She still draws huge crowds and apparently has a thick skin. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her back on the political stage in the future.
Everyone hates Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. No one wants government control and neither party is articulating that.
When did she leave? She has been on the forefront of the political debate since she has left office.
Uh, you might want to rethink that broad brush, fella. I'm an independent, and have been since registering to vote forty years ago. And I've voted for the most conservative candidate in every election I've participated in. Some of them have even been Democrats (in Louisiana, once upon a time, "Democrat" was about the only choice available).
There are others aside from me who are independent as a matter of principal, agreeing with George Washington that political parties and party politics are NOT a good thing, and that one should vote for the best candidate, regardless of party.
The party needs a leader. In the absence of one, I can’t understand why Boehner, McConnell, and Steele can’t come together, develop the message and go public with it. Their inability to do so suggests either absence of vision or extreme weakness
They cannot come up with a message because they share many of the same ideas Obama and the DNC share: George Soros-inspired Free Trade ideas, Sorosian Globalism, illegal alien amnnesty, and more federal government control. The GOP will not win until they drop all forms of Economic Anti-Americanism.
Doing away with Economic Anti-Americanism is a sure winner in 2010 and 2012
It just dawned on me that this may be the Grand Plan by the Left. Put a radical communist in the WH which provides cover for an ever left-leaning Republican party. The commie gets booted out, but we then forced to accept a pernicious and ostensibly "conservative" Republican who is very left himself.
How devious of the lefties.
I guess I meant as an office seeker.
prefer brains and common sense
GBA just posted “Post of the Day”!
When asked, “what political party do you belong to?”, or “are you Republicans?”, my wife and I both answer (we never say independents) we say “we are conservatives”.
Sure there are certainly exceptions to what I said, but my general observation from talking to folks, and from what I see online, for example in comments to news forums, is that when people say they are “independents”, almost always if you listen or read on, you find that they are Leftists (in some cases even Nadarites, which is just another flavor of Leftist) who want to appear “open-minded” so they call themselves independent.
How about the elected Republicans stand together and just say NO to the current bill in congress, then clean up the corruption going on in Medicare and Medicade? That would be a step in the right direction. But NO, they run around DC and let their “staff” write a “new” bill which is probably not much different than nobama’s.
I personally think the Old Saws, Boehner, McConnell and Steele, are all too arrogant and Know It All personalities to come together. They are very good posing before the public on FOX and may one or 2 other tv stations, but they think their “own” ideas are (ideas of their staff)better than the other fellows. I really have little confidence in the people sitting on the Republican side of the aisle. One trouble with the Republicans, they want to be accepted by the democRATS, and the cRats just use them or keep them “locked out” of decisions, just as the cRATS did the other day. Now what are the elected Republicans going to do? Cry on tv because they were locked out of decisions made behind locked doors!!! So far, that’s all I’ve seen.
Hmmm, never thought of that...worth thinking about and investigating.
The fear may be based on the idea that the people will not like the alternative message which boils down to: “GROW UP”!
The GOP has had the unattractive job of being mean “Dad” making you take responsibility while the Dems took the “Mommy loves you” role. However, at some point in maturity a person sees that the Dad advice will let you be free while the mommy wants you to remain her baby forever.
Formerly the Dems got to be the ones to tell people to do all the things they already wanted to do: Spend money, have sex, if it feels good do it. But now the Dems have unwittingly made themselves into the “self-denial and guilt trip” party by preaching about global warming and carbon footprints.They are against anything you enjoy in life and are as intent as Puritans about it.
Republicans now the chance to be the ones to tell people to do the things they already want to do. Just about everybody understands from life experience that people who give you stuff for “free” have power over you, can lay guilt trips, extract a fee, if not in dollars then in some worse way.
Oh I would love to see her back on the political stage also, but I’m just saying they are going to RIP her so much worse and destroy her financially with their baseless lawsuits. FUnny how they downplayed her as dumb and not a threat, yet TREATED her like she was the biggest threat to the free world since Hitler.
Show me what I missed, if you would be so kind, unless the liberal agenda was to lose in Iraq. They promoted losing in Iraq. Other than that they harped about a culture of corruption as exemplified by Duke Cunningham's conviction for accepting bribes by defense contractors, Jack Abramoff's lobbying schemes, the Mark Foley homosexual predator scandal and Tom Delay's political indictment in Texas.
Considering Barney Frank's history, Mark Foley's behavior would have been a badge of honor if he was a rat. Tom Delay has yet to go to trial.
Besides that they harped on the pubbies spendthrift ways during GWB's termi in office, promising balanced budgets.
The rats had no message in 2006 other than they were not the GOP in 2006. The rats moved to the right starting in 2006 promising fiscal conservatism and running pro-life and pro-Second Amendment candidates where it was needed to win. That's why they have been so limited in their ability to damage the country with their current majorities in Congress. Their majorities happened because they didn't run their usual liberals starting in 2006. They ran moderates and blue/yellow dogs.
Perhaps the author meant with this the liberal agenda to lose in Iraq?
Reagan had an intellect to go along with the brains, and decades of experience promoting the conservative causes. Sarah too often relied on folksy charm during the debates and interviews, and cliche phrases.
I’m open to her improving in these areas and have a wait and see philosophy toward her. Whether she can beat the big boys is a big question to me.
I have noticed that you can always tell if someone is a true Independent or is ashamed to admit, he or she is a demonrat by the way they attack the other side. I true Independent goes after both parties. While the other one only attacks Republicans or conservatives
Well, as a conservative independent, I "do" tend to remonstrate with Republicans more than Democrats. Not because I FAVOR the Democrats, but because I consider them as having gone over completely to the "dark side", and any attempt to shift them is a completely lost cause and waste of time.
I see at least SOME hope that the Republicans can be guided in a more conservative direction. Not MUCH hope, mind you, but non-zero.
“Independents have flipped negative,” warns Bevan, who mans the polls for a living. “That’s not a good thing for any party.”
Gee Newt, the independents that you want to capture by moving Republicans hard left are rejecting the left.
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