Posted on 10/28/2005 3:53:51 PM PDT by ovrtaxt
Public has had it
with both parties
Battleground poll reveals Americans disillusioned with government
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A just-released political survey by George Washington University contains bad news for Democrats and Republicans because it lays bare a public seemingly disenfranchised with both major parties.
The Battleground poll – unique for its inclusion of top Democrat and Republican pollsters – shows a definite slide in support for President Bush and the GOP. But the survey contains little good news for Democrats as a viable alternative.
The poll found just 44 percent of the public is satisfied with President Bush's job performance – a figure well below his two-term average but still slightly higher than other recent polls showing his approval at all-time lows.
"The mounting casualties of American troops in Iraq, the higher gas prices certainly put a dampening on any of the good news about the economy, and you had the surfacing scandals with Republicans in the House, the Senate and the White House, potential scandals," said GOP pollster Ed Goeas.
While a Republican retreat in the polls normally means good news for Democrats, there is little evidence Americans are enamored with the opposition party, survey results indicate. On a host of issues – Iraq, homeland security, the economy – Democrats don't fare much better, the poll indicated.
"There is a real void right now in terms of what the alternative is. And right now, Democrats suffer from the fact that Americans are disillusioned and distrustful of government in general," Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told Voice Of America. "They tend to be feeling more negative about the Republicans, but not particularly positive about the Democrats."
Goeas believes Democrats' inability to capitalize on Republican weakness is actually encouraging.
"But the Democrats, whether you look at the image of the Democratic Party, whether you look at Democrats in Congress, not only did not gain anything, they actually had their negatives go up some during this period of time," he told VOA.
And, the survey noted, Republicans continue to hold an edge in the public's eye on issues related to taxes and terrorism. Democrats, meanwhile, fare better with health care, jobs and education.
The mid-October poll surveyed 1,000 registered likely voters nationwide. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
It's my thoery that the GOP and the DNC have a symbiotic relationship. The GOP needs to keep the Dems strong enough to be a threat, but too weak to win elections. Then, they retain power. If the Dems become completely irrelevant and marginalized, the conservatives split the GOP for a new party to the right.
The GOP needs the Dems to keep us on the plantation. They don't want to decisively win.
Well I know that I remember the days when I actually voted FOR someone vs. against the other person. *sigh* I am sick to death of the "lesser of 2 evils". As the Democrats have slid to the left the Republicans keep following them.
The pay stinks, but there should be plenty of shootin'!!
I'll save my breath over the GOP there is enough bashing of them here at FR. The GOP would be in serious trouble if the Dems were a serious bunch, but how can any group be serious when its major intellectual achievement of late has been that GWB dynamited the levees of NOLA because he hates black people.
Go Tom Go!!
Exactly. They are a joke, they are only still in the game because the GOP props them up. They need the Dems.
Interesting, however there are splits within the democratic party as well. As it sits right now I have more faith in the GOP than in a third party candidate and absolutely none with the democrats.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
well IMHO we're being squeezed between the Transnationational corporate interests and the Transnational Socialists.....
That's why I volunteered-
You and Kinky in the same room during a debate. The possibilities are endless
"If Hillary gets elected, it will be because the GOP enables her."
Well as a conservative here is one vote she won't get, unless she's running against Osama Bin Laden, and that's iffy.
I found an interesting site which details international banking, central banks and their influence on world governments.
www.augustreview.com
I'd rock his twirled world!!
;<)
If the GOP candidate is anything like GHWB in 92, or Dole, good luck.
Hooo-weee!
Can I retire now?
I mean, the food is good and everything....
As Perot proved, most 3rd party candidates are mental patients. Goofy, with goofy ideas, like the "electronic town hall," or raising the corporate tax to 80%.
That's why 3rd parties never gain any traction, except on the fringes of websites. They never get anything done, except to play spoiler (as Perot did in '92 and Nader did in Florida in 2000).
Third parties are populist movements, founded by pissed-off people or by personalities, like Huey Long, George Wallace, or Perot. You can only sustain being pissed-off so long; if you stay pissed off, you end up in a sanitarium or state prison. And, once the personality departs or dies, their party usually folds.
People that join third parties are taking the easy way out. It's simple to just get fed up and join some outfit that paints a pie-in-the-sky, it's gonna-be-so-great picture in some ideal environment. It's sure a lot easier than staying in a big party and fighting to get things done.
But, that latter alternative is the ONLY thing that works. Leaving and voting for Peroutka or an unemployed computer programmer who lives with his mother might make you feel good, to stick it the eye of the man, but it's basically futile.
The brutal fact is that participation in third parties has been declining over the last three election cycles. There's no reason to think that that trend won't continue, especially if Hillary Clinton is the Democrat nominee in 2008. Every non-liberal non-Democrat in America will drag themselves over broken glass to vote against her.
Perhaps the issues are with the common denominator.
The public.....
Third party candidates don't suck off the taxpayer teat to fund their election hopes.
I agree. I also support Libertarian candidates. I don't give a dime to the LP. Too much focus on the Drug War, open borders, and porn.
The LP needs to dump the doper image. That's whats killing them.
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