Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Has Obama Met His Economic Sadr City? | Main | Reid Appoints First 3 Members Of Debt Super Committee »
August 09, 2011

Poll: Debt Debate Hurts Republicans

There's a reason to discount this poll. I'm going to assume, provisionally, that the actual numbers are accurate.

Just 33 percent of Americans approve of the Republican Party, while 59 percent disapprove in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday. That’s a net negative 10-percentage-point shift from less than a month ago...

At the same time, Democrats’ numbers have improved slightly, with approval and disapproval each at 47 percent. In July, 45 percent approved and 49 percent disapproved, an net 4-point positive change.

The tea party movement fares slightly worse than the GOP and has its most dismal ratings since CNN began asking about the movement in polls in January 2010...

Of those surveyed, just 41 percent say they think the House member in their district should be reelected — the lowest ever — while 49 percent said the member does not deserve another term.

First of all, this is a poll of adults, and is then not really predictive of electoral results. Assume Republicans would do better by 4 or 5% among likely voters.

But that's not really why I discount the poll.

I discount it because one party (GOP/Tea Party) is offering plausible but painful policy options to the country.

Oh, we sugar-coat it. We always do. We are not exactly running hard on the Ryan plan, for example.

Nevertheless, most House Republicans voted for that unpopular bill, a fairly gutsy stance that they're not credited enough for.

The other party, on the other hand, offers up pablum and non-solutions that sound good -- "balanced approach," "investments," "modest reforms," etc. -- but are in fact unworkable, and are not really plans at all.

Harry Reid, for example, cannot offer a budget because the budget would be politically embarrassing. The only budget he could offer would demonstrate he intends to explode debt even further. Because he can't agitate for higher taxes (unpopular with independents), and he can't permit significant cuts to anything (the Democratic Welfare Base would not even consider it).

The GOP is therefore offering tough medicine. This tough medicine is not polling well, but it is also not polling catastrophically. The GOP is actually offering its agenda, and that agenda is full of tough, unpopular stuff.

The Democrats, however, are not offering their agenda at all. Obama and Reid and Pelosi continue to strongly imply the fantasy that we can close some corporate jet loopholes and goose taxes on the "wealthiest 1%" and we'll be right as rain.

That is a position with some amount of popular support but, alas, no actual support in the tangible world of real numbers. What is being offered is pure horseshit.

At some point the Democrats will be compelled by circumstance to offer their actual agenda -- and we'll see how that fares when the public understands what they mean by "a balanced approach."

Still, it's dicey for 2012. No one ever went bankrupt betting on the gullibility of the American people, as (I think) P.T. Barnum said.


digg this
posted by Ace at 05:23 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Alberta Oil Peon: "Well, off to the snoozer for me. Night, Horde. ..."

Alberta Oil Peon: "King Biscuit Boy with Crowbar. Had beers with Bisc ..."

Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah: "Regarding the lack of prosecution: Isn't the corr ..."

Ciampino - Update #171: "Brooklyn woman has jaw wired shut after stranger s ..."

Ciampino - Update #170: "Army suffers two Apache helicopter crashes within ..."

m: "499 ..."

m: "498 ..."

Ciampino - Update #169: "470 They say that the drummer and his Dad's reuni ..."

Ciampino - the cost of a new engine will buy a lot of fags: "459 I doubt an ordinary camera-equipped drone cou ..."

Alberta Oil Peon: "Little Feat, "Waiting For Columbus" is a darned go ..."

Stress Management Techniques for Women: "First off I want to say excellent blog! I had a qu ..."

SunyD: "The Who were never high on my playlists. None of ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64