Posted on 12/07/2012 1:29:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
As negotiations on a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" enter the final three weeks, Republicans face a stark reality: The American public continues siding with President Barack Obama and Democrats on issues crucial to any potential deal.
Polls taken over the past month have continually shown that a post-election bump for the President, combined with the relative unpopularity of Republicans, gives Obama a lot of leverage in the debate.
Voters overwhelmingly support the key element of Obama's plan for a deal — raising taxes on incomes above $250,000. They also support blanket entitlement cuts, which is what the GOP wants in a deal. But when asked about specific entitlement reforms, they balk at the options.
Here's a rundown of the GOP's public-opinion problem:
* In the past week, voters appear to be moving even more toward a position that favors raising tax rates on incomes above $250,000. A Thursday Quinnipiac poll found the margin at a whopping 65-31. In a new Associated Press/GfK poll, 48 percent favored eliminating the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes above $250,000.
* Obama has more cards to play with — because if leaders do fail to reach an agreement, the public overwhelmingly says it will blame Republicans by a 53-27 percent margin. This underscores what two big conservatives wrote last week — that Republicans are "screwed" because they don't have much leverage, especially in the court of public opinion.
* What has gone unnoticed in a lot of fiscal-cliff polling is how starkly people come out against any specific entitlement reforms pollsters ask about. For example, in the Quinnipiac poll, people oppose cutting Medicare spending by a 70-25 margin. By a 51-44 margin, they oppose raising the Medicare eligibility age.
* The AP poll shows that voters also "trust" Democrats more on handling Medicare
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Robbing Peter to pay Paul always has the support of Paul.
Never said they were.
Those taxes are going up next year,
No, they're not. The FICA holiday is ending. There isn't anything "going up."
and everyone (with a job who is on a payroll) will see their take home pay reduced.
Means nothing to me, because I never got any break from paying them. As long as we are continuing the pretense that these programs are funded, they need to be resumed.
Blaming the Republicans is expected. Communists always need a boogey man to make sure that the children stay in line and follow them down the road to serfdom. This isn’t news. It’s just more of the same old tired communist propaganda that the communists have been spewing for decades.
and c) extremely good at blaming conservatives for everything.
The GOP's image is suffering most with its own constituents, and that's exactly what this poll shows.
Exactly. I have not seen any of the truth on tv. Even the reps that go on the shows are not explaining this. If I lived off sound bites like most people I would probably agree with the polls.
Please explain why its economic agony? Because there won’t be this extra trillion in the economy? Or because these bozo’s in Congress will have to explain to their “handout” constituency that we’ve had to cut their favorite cell phone giveaway program or close their favorite military base?
Death panels?
GOOD!!!. I hope they hate us so much that their heads explode.
Republicans worry too much about pissing off people that would never vote for them in the first place.
Amen. Republicans need to grow a pair. Two years is an eternity in politics. Use your leverage with the debt ceiling and make government smaller. For eight years, all I recall hearing in the 80s was that Regan’s budget was dead on arrival. He was a popular president and that tactic the democrats used never seemed to hurt them. F obama and the rest of the left.
“Sometimes you just have to fold a losing hand.”
Unfortunately, I see a lot more “losing hands” being dealt in the days to come.
Perhaps the best course for the Republicans would be to just step back, and tell the ‘rats AND the country: “OK, you won. We recognize that, and we aren’t going to try to stop you. You claim that you have the solutions to the nation’s problems, and that our solutions are worthless. Fine. Do anything you want. We will not interfere, but we will not be a part of it. YOU fix things.” And then vote “present”, to the last Republican, or not vote at all.
(Aside, didn’t Hank Rearden make a similar case at his trial in Atlas Shrugged?)
Hard times for conservatives ahead. I don’t like it any more than you do.
Yes more and more conservatives are realizing we can’t fight a the polls, the president and his throne sniffing press core all at once. The voters have smoked the hopium and the only thing left to sober them up are the markets.
Vote present and walk. Let the voters eat gay marriage and free condoms. See how that works. In the meantime retool ..fresh blood..come back lean and mean. Timing is everything and now it’s not our time.
Forward!!;;;!
No, Republicans should abstain from voting on tax increases and let the Democrats own the disaster completely. There are quite a few Democrats who don’t want to be saddled with having voted to increase taxes, so it would be great to see them squirm if they had to own up to their vote.
The Repubs will still have the House where the bills must originate - why, under your doom and gloom scenario can't they pass bills lowering taxes for all and allowing the Dem Senate/President refuse to go along?
If one accepts that rationale, then the Bush Tax Holiday is ending. There isn't anything "going up." I don't think that logic will find a lot of acceptance in these parts.
Closer to a trillion-and-a-half in current deficit spending.
But, considering that a lot of that comes back to the Feds as personal and corporate income tax and other taxes, the first cut of a trillion-and-a-half will cause a decrease in revenue, leading to further cuts, further decreasing revenue, and so on.
Probably closer to $2 trillion out of the economy.
Roughly $7000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
Figure $25,000 for a family of four.
There is no way out of this that doesn't involve a great deal of unpleasantness; it's beyond the ability of humans to fix without great pain.
Either that, or take the Medicare tax revenue, divide by the number of recipients, and mail everyone a check for their share, to be spent on whatever care they can afford with it.
Won’t be pretty.
“Obama has turned producers into 1930s German Jews.”
Oh, you are more correct than I think anyone wishes to admit.
Why not send Federal Law enforcement to pick up all registered republicans and being “enemies of the state”? Why not deny them the right to own property or businesses? Why not get rid of the “pesky opposition” once and for all?
Conservatism is being driven underground - by Obama, by Democrats, by the press, and even by the GOP. When conservatives object or lash out, they will become terrorists.
What is happening in larger terms is the American Revolution and its consequences are being rolled back. Power is once again being centralized, "rights" are becoming something akin to what an 18th century noble granted to his subjects: goodies handed out for behaving.
No longer does achievement place you in society, political affiliation does. The political class is gaining ever more control over the nation and all efforts to resist it are being marginalized. Business owners who do not ingratiate themselves to politicians of the right stripe find themselves vilified and hated.
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