The Post’s Cooked Poll and Obama’s Tax Class Warfare

US News and World Report ^ | 9/11/2008 | Sam Dealy

[markomalley]

The Washington Post carries a bizarre piece today about the seeming disconnect between Barack Obama's tax plan and voters' perception of it. The crux of it is that, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, 51 percent of potential voters believe their taxes would rise under Obama, while just 33 percent said the same of John McCain.

This prompts a lengthy defense of Obama's tax plan, full of imbalances and outright whoppers. For instance, the article notes that Obama "is fighting the widespread perception that he would jack up tax rates upon taking office." It's hardly a widespread perception—Obama himself has said over and over that he would raise taxes on the top 5 percent of earners. So is it any wonder that a candidate who has pledged to raise taxes on one group stokes fears that he'll also raise others? The larger mystery is why a candidate who has pledged to unequivocally cut taxes (McCain) is still regarded with suspicion by a third of voters.

Nevertheless, the reporters write, the poll results "are likely to be particularly frustrating for Obama, who has failed not only to break through on taxes but also to capitalize on McCain's perceived weakness on the economy, the central issue of the campaign."

But the Post's poll results don't demonstrate McCain's "perceived weakness the economy."

Here was the question: "Do you think (NAME) does or does not understand the economic problems people in this country are having?" Obama bested McCain 74 percent to 53 percent. But the question concerned microeconomic difficulties, not macroeconomic solutions. Voters might think Obama better understands their frustrations over the rising price of bread, but that hardly means they believe he knows how to right the economy.

[xtinct]

Obama will jack up the taxes to pay for Universal health care.

Additionally, he plans to introduce another tax to fight world poverty. And, this money will be administered by the UN.

From my understanding of info provided in ...Obama Nation

[highlander_UW]

It's possible that Obama doesn't think his tax plan will raise taxes on the average American, but that would just be proof that he hasn't a clue about economics. So either he's lying, or he's clueless...which way does the MSM wish to jump on this one?

[hershey]

That Obama tax to fight world poverty, to be administered by our pals at the UN, would cost each and every American, man, woman, and child, $2500 per annum. Out of his mind. Americans already give more charity and aid to the third world than the rest of the world combined.