Gallup: Americans paying attention oppose debt-ceiling increase almost 2-1

Hotair ^ | July13 ,2011 | Ed Morrissey

[Hojczyk]

Good news for the White House: the gap between those who oppose a debt-ceiling increase at all narrowed over the past two months. Bad news for the White House: opposition is still almost 2-1 in the latest Gallup to the debt-ceiling hike for which Obama has gone on a national campaign. The gap shrunk from 28% to 20%, with slightly over a third of Americans saying that they don’t know enough to decide:

Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure. This 20-percentage-point edge in opposition to raising the debt ceiling in Gallup’s July 7-10 poll is slightly less than the 28-point lead (47% vs. 19%) seen in May.

Here’s the second paragraph from Gallup. Might they have taken Barack Obama’s poll analysis a little too seriously? You be the judge:

This measure reflects public opinion about raising the debt ceiling in the abstract. The question wording did not mention the rationales for or against raising the debt ceiling, nor did it explain that any such move would ultimately be a part of a broader budget bill involving spending cuts and perhaps tax increases.

In case that wasn’t bad enough, Gallup recalculated its results to include only those paying very close attention — and a majority of those respondents oppose raising the debt ceiling 53/37. By almost the same margin, respondents in this category are more worried about raising the debt ceiling without getting “major spending cuts” than they are about an economic crisis resulting from a failure to raise the ceiling (56/34).

[Happy Rain]

Well,they need to shut up and eat their peas and leave such things to the professionals.

[ex-snook]

The Big Banker Boys don’t mind seeing a view rounds of Bend Over Obama but they don’t want to get in the barrel.

[Longbow1969]

Many people (probably most) are opposed to raising the debt ceiling only in theory and because they don’t understand it, but the minute anything actually gets cut or SS checks don’t go out they will scream in outrage and blame the Republicans.

Obama is making this the centerpiece of his 2012 campaign. At this point I believe he is hoping no deal is reached so he and the media can blame Republicans for poor people not getting their food stamps and/or old people not receiving their checks. The minute that stuff happens the public will demand a debt ceiling increase. Americans are so wedded to the social welfare state that any actual cuts are met with howls of anger.

McConnell is right that Obama wants this to turn into a major crisis so he can blame the poor economy on Republicans and force them to share ownership of it.

The right thing to do is to demand cuts and hold fast, just be prepared for the fact that Republicans are likely to get stomped in the court of public opinion. And if Obama wins on this (and he probably will) the way Clinton beat the tar out of Gingrich over the government shutdown - it is very possible this helps Hussein win the presidency again in 2012.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You are very close to being prophetic. At this time in 1979, Carter was barely in the 30% approval category. Obama is still only a few points below 50% on the average.

Considering voter fraud, which will set all records this election, illegals being allowed to vote in key large electoral states, over 50% of the population now dependent on a Government check, to keep their homes or put food on the table, as well as the vast expansion of other forms of government and Unions; We are in deep deep trouble and this coming election is light years away from being a slam dunk.

[Longbow1969]

Considering voter fraud, which will set all records this election, illegals being allowed to vote in key large electoral states, over 50% of the population now dependent on a Government check, to keep their homes or put food on the table, as well as the vast expansion of other forms of government and Unions; We are in deep deep trouble and this coming election is light years away from being a slam dunk.

Precisely. And yet many people here and on other conservative sites appear to be in full echo chamber mode and really believe the Republicans are going to coast to victory. Winning in 2012 will be enormously difficult, and IF we do win it probably won't be by much. The current crop of what passes for the American public is nothing like the past. We are now over run with ignorant people, immigrants and illegals that have no idea what made America great, and care more about getting their government handouts than building a great country for the future.

The problem with winning in 2012 is that not only do we have to defeat Obama's ideas, we literally have to beat the idea of Obama. Huge numbers of people are emotionally invested in him and just can't let go. By wide margins in polling, the public personally approves of him even if they don't necessarily approve of his job performance. Bottom line, people WANT to like Obama and generally do.