Rasmussen Trust on Issues/ Congressional Ballot-Mid July 2009

[SamInTheSouth]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

While I agree Rasmussen is typically an outlier, look at this Gallup poll. Scroll down a bit to get to specific issues. More people disapprove of Obama's handling of health care, taxes, and the budget deficit than support. Approve and disapprove are about even for handling the economy.

If you look at the first page Rasmussen's poll from the 15th of July on "10 key issues" shows the same thing with the GOP leading on Taxes, Immigration, NAtional Security, War in Iraq, The Economy, Abortion, Gov't ethics and corruption, and Social Security(I disagree on this one, they probably are behind), dems lead only on Education and on Health Care. Keep in mind this is a generic poll GOP versus Dems while Gallup's is Approve/Disapprove of the way Obama is doing on this, this, and this. So that might explain the difference on Heath Care. I think if you flip Health Care and Social Security in the Rassy poll though it would be spot on.

[Mr.Phips]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

[pogo stick]

How about this, Liberals  democrats and so called "Moderate GOPhers" STFU about polls and stop calling them biased to the right, ok?

[Alexander Hamilton]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

Not true.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

Not true.

Dems need to quit peddling this canard that we don't want reform at all, We just don't want YOUR reform!!! There are I think four or five Republican proposal currently out there on our side of aisle. We want to encourage competition by allowing for the purchase of insurance accross state lines, we want to reduce cost by encouraging comparison shopping, reducing junk lawsuits, and regulations that reduce competition. We want to create new regulations to further reduce the cartel like relationship between Insurance, Pharma, and doctors. We want to make price and quality info available to everyone so they can shop around. This will get the costs done unlike the House bill and many other Dem proposals. We want to provide to people $4500 refundable tax credit to buy insurance. The Republicans are almost unanimous in there support of this.

Once you have this agreed to you can get something to cover the poor and those with preexisting conditions. That could be a public option at the federal level, or that could be providing subsidies to the states and requiring to them create public plans for the poor and those with Pre-existing conditions, like Massachusetts has done and the federal gov't would cover all or most of the costs so the states wouldn't run into financial problems with them.

There are number of plans on the GOP side. To say we don't have a plan is just a lie being peddled so the Dems can convince the public that its there plan or nothing at all. Well the truth is its there plan versus sanity and common sense. Of course there plan would lose everytime if that was the debate.

[pogo stick]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

YOU. NEED. HELP.


I support healthcare reform, not CommieCare reform.

[You kip if you want to...]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

YOU. NEED. HELP.


I support healthcare reform, not CommieCare reform.

*rollseyes*

[SamInTheSouth]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

Well for one, that isn't true, but you already knew that.

Second, your answer makes no sense.  You said the Democrats will never let the Republicans do anything to Social Security if they kill ObamaCare.  I said so the Democrats will behave like children since they didn't their way and block SS reform out of revenge.  You said the Republicans are doing the same with health care, but according to your own answer when I asked how, that's not the case at all.  The Republicans aren't blocking ObamaCare to get back at Democrats for blocking something of theirs in the past.  They are blocking it because it's a bad plan.

So you were saying?

[Alexander Hamilton]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

Not true.

Dems need to quit peddling this canard that we don't want reform at all, We just don't want YOUR reform!!! There are I think four or five Republican proposal currently out there on our side of aisle. We want to encourage competition by allowing for the purchase of insurance accross state lines, we want to reduce cost by encouraging comparison shopping, reducing junk lawsuits, and regulations that reduce competition. We want to create new regulations to further reduce the cartel like relationship between Insurance, Pharma, and doctors. We want to make price and quality info available to everyone so they can shop around. This will get the costs done unlike the House bill and many other Dem proposals. We want to provide to people $4500 refundable tax credit to buy insurance. The Republicans are almost unanimous in there support of this.

Once you have this agreed to you can get something to cover the poor and those with preexisting conditions. That could be a public option at the federal level, or that could be providing subsidies to the states and requiring to them create public plans for the poor and those with Pre-existing conditions, like Massachusetts has done and the federal gov't would cover all or most of the costs so the states wouldn't run into financial problems with them.

There are number of plans on the GOP side. To say we don't have a plan is just a lie being peddled so the Dems can convince the public that its there plan or nothing at all. Well the truth is its there plan versus sanity and common sense. Of course there plan would lose everytime if that was the debate.

Exactly. But that's how we find out who watches Olbermann.

[Mr.Phips]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

Well for one, that isn't true, but you already knew that.

Second, your answer makes no sense.  You said the Democrats will never let the Republicans do anything to Social Security if they kill ObamaCare.  I said so the Democrats will behave like children since they didn't their way and block SS reform out of revenge.  You said the Republicans are doing the same with health care, but according to your own answer when I asked how, that's not the case at all.  The Republicans aren't blocking ObamaCare to get back at Democrats for blocking something of theirs in the past.  They are blocking it because it's a bad plan.

So you were saying?

The Republican Social Security plan is awful.  It would force benefit cuts on the elderly and would essentially repeal the system. 

[TeePee4Prez]

If the Dem plan passes to raise marginal tax rates to 47% passes (which it won't),  the GOP will get near to taking control of the House in 2010, with about 10 seats gained due to party switches. There was an interesting piece in the WSJ today, that the Dems control a majority of the hyper wealthy CD districts, and most of those Dem congresspersons are sweating bullets.

There are no permanent alignments, just permanent interests.

A lot of those wealthy districts are also super liberal.  They are represented by safer than safe Democrats like Carolyn Maloney, Pete Stark, and Henry Waxman. 

But there are also some historically Republican, now Democratic districts that are semi-wealthy or have some wealthy constituents such as PA 6, 7, 8, and possibly 13 or NJ 3 that have a nasty history of railing against taxes.  Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D) lost PA 13 (when it was strictly Montco) pretty much on taxes alone in 1994.  These are 5 districts in one major metro area alone.   

(KP, please don't have an orgasm)  I'll even say if the GOP could run a Melissa Brown (or type) Republican in PA 13, go on the taxes issues in the suburbs then the "neighborhood" issues plus the health care plan that has been twisted to exclude some seniors in NE Philly and that could equal even Allyson Schwartz sweating some bullets.  I would not get cocky.  Obama is losing steam awfully fast and I could see a mini-1994 in 2010, but I'll also say people are judging Obama too quickly and harshly.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

Trust on 10 Key Issues
Democrats
Republicans
 
Health Care
41%
44%
 
Economy
40%
46%
 
Education
38%
41%
 
Iraq
42%
42%
 
Nat'l Security
43%
47%
 
Abortion
36%
46%
 
Social Security
39%
43%
 
Taxes
35%
51%
 
Immigration
35%
43%
 
Gov't Ethics
34%
31%
 

Come on and give me that "old familiar cry, piss, and moan".
 

[Alexander Hamilton]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

 

I wonder when they are going to do another leadership poll. Republicans still don't have a national leader.

[Person Man]

Democrats will not let Republicans do anything to Social Security, especially if healthcare reform is killed again.  An eye for an eye. 

Ah yes, instead of actually doing something good for Americans they'll all just act like spoiled children.

Republicans are doing the same thing on healthcare.

In what way?

They dont want any reform. 

YOU. NEED. HELP.


I support healthcare reform, not CommieCare reform.

Don't drink water from public drinking fountains.

[Ronnie]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

 

Oh boy...

Can the GOP actually overtake Dems in registration by 2010?

[Alexander Hamilton]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

 

Oh boy...

Can the GOP actually overtake Dems in registration by 2010?

No. Too many GOP-voting Dixiecrats that still say they are Democrats.

[Ronnie]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

 

Oh boy...

Can the GOP actually overtake Dems in registration by 2010?

No. Too many GOP-voting Dixiecrats that still say they are Democrats.

Well, in any case, these numbers are MUCH nicer than in the 2008 election.  If these numbers stay this way, we can pick up many seats, including gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional seats.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

 

Oh boy...

Can the GOP actually overtake Dems in registration by 2010?

No. Too many GOP-voting Dixiecrats that still say they are Democrats.

Well, in any case, these numbers are MUCH nicer than in the 2008 election.  If these numbers stay this way, we can pick up many seats, including gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional seats.

Yes. Too many GOP-voting Dixiecrats that won't support mainstream Democrats.

[Democratic Hawk]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

Being a moderate, rather than a leftist, there is no way I'd trust the Republicans on economic, fiscal and quality of life issues. To take a robust economy that had generated 23 million jobs and a federal government living well within its means and, radically, changing that trajectory through idiologically-driven whims and follies on the part of Bush the Inept, aided and abetted by a servile party in Congress, only to bequeath an economy haemorrhaging jobs at a rate not seen since the recession of 1981/82 is unforgivable. Given that the trajectory was one of a year on year rise in budget surplus, it was clearly foolish to cut taxes at a time of 1) prosperity and 2) war

In the post-Depression era, Democrats have proven themselves to be the ones who have tended to preside over more robust economic growth and job creation; along with a greater rise across the board rise in prosperity, which is why I'm optimistic moving forward. I'll gladly take this president's pragmatic center-left approach over the last eight years of governance with all the finesse of an idiologically-driven cackhanded inept - complete with the end result to vindicate that!

The fact of life is that the Democratic Party is pragmatically center-left; the Republican Party is dogmatically right-wing. Even in Congress, if there is a pragmatic center-right, it's among Democrats - and much to the exasperation of progressives therein lies the checks and balances from within on President Obama (who is, of course, a mainstream pragmatically center-left Democrat). As far as Bush the Inept, to be fair, goes, however, there were no checks and balances from within the GOP, none whatsoever

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

glad to see the broken record keeps on spinnin'

[Democratic Hawk]

glad to see the broken record keeps on spinnin'

You can't expect a pragmatic Christian Democrat to view some radical rightwing party, particularly, favorably

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Party ID as of August 1st.
Democrats 36.8%
Republican 33.3%
Independent 29.9%


Congressional Ballot
Date
Dem
GOP
 
08-02-09
38%
43%

Time for some more leftist moaning!

Being a moderate, rather than a leftist, there is no way I'd trust the Republicans on economic, fiscal and quality of life issues. To take a robust economy that had generated 23 million jobs and a federal government living well within its means and, radically, changing that trajectory through idiologically-driven whims and follies on the part of Bush the Inept, aided and abetted by a servile party in Congress, only to bequeath an economy haemorrhaging jobs at a rate not seen since the recession of 1981/82 is unforgivable. Given that the trajectory was one of a year on year rise in budget surplus, it was clearly foolish to cut taxes at a time of 1) prosperity and 2) war

In the post-Depression era, Democrats have proven themselves to be the ones who have tended to preside over more robust economic growth and job creation; along with a greater rise across the board rise in prosperity, which is why I'm optimistic moving forward. I'll gladly take this president's pragmatic center-left approach over the last eight years of governance with all the finesse of an idiologically-driven cackhanded inept - complete with the end result to vindicate that!

The fact of life is that the Democratic Party is pragmatically center-left; the Republican Party is dogmatically right-wing. Even in Congress, if there is a pragmatic center-right, it's among Democrats - and much to the exasperation of progressives therein lies the checks and balances from within on President Obama (who is, of course, a mainstream pragmatically center-left Democrat). As far as Bush the Inept, to be fair, goes, however, there were no checks and balances from within the GOP, none whatsoever

The Dem party is "pragmatic"? Hardly. Though of course you got the Blue Dogs but most of them are either populist, like yourself or Clintonistas. There aren't any real Conservative Dems anymore except for a few. Lets take a look a some of the "pragmatic decisions" made by Congress since 2007, they held up and basically killed the Columbian Free Trade agreement even though nearly all there objections were taken care and it would have increased our exports more then our inports, and finally at the time Hugo Chavez was getting very belligerent and passing that would have sent one heck of a message of solidarity. The only justification I can see for refusing to pass it was to please big-labor. I wouldn't call that pragmatic, more like dogmatic opposition to free trade. They passed a Pay-go rule and then 6 months later decided to waive it when they decided they weren't willing to cut spending enough to comply with it. Sounds like dogmatic opposition to controlling spending, going against promises they made in 2006. They refused to compromise on allowing Oil and Nat Gas drilling in OCS except for a worthless deal that only opened it up in for states. If they had done that they could have gotten many of there other proposals such as wind, and solar in exchange. Sounds like dogmatic opposition to increased drilling to please the environmentalists. Even now the Dems completely ignored the huge cost savings of Medical Malpractice reform to help pay for there bill b/c that would piss off the Trail lawyers. Yes the modern Democratic party and there congress is very Pragmatic.

The Bush tax cuts were mostly passed in 2001 when the reccession was first starting. Those studies of a budget surplus failed to take into account the recession, and the War on Terror. If you included the money from the supplementals used to pay for the War on Terror, the deficit was too large to blame on the tax cuts alone. Iraq may have been a mistake in hindsight but once we were there we couldn't well abandon the Iraqi people, who had supported us, to genocide and terrorists. The tax cuts in 2003 consisted primarly of slicing the Cap Gains, and Dividends tax which benefitted middle class retirees the most. I don't remember if there was a cut in the Corporate tax or not all I know is that even after that it is still far too high compared to the rest of the world. Cutting taxes for the top income bracket might of been a mistake but taken alone it would not have been enough to save the unrealistic "Clinton" surplus which wasn't entirely Clinton's anyway.

The four years following the 1994 elections saw the most fiscally conservative congress in decades. Earmarks went down, Welfare was reformed, and the growth of overall spending was curbed considerably, allowing the preciously small surplus to appear in the first place, only 60 some billion the first year. I highly doubt that would have occurred under the previous Dem Congress which contained ironically far more Conservative Dems then the current congress. Yes we f**ked up when we allowed Tom Delay to gain influence and with him the growth of the K-street project, the lobbying, the earmarks, the expanding of gov't, and the creation of new entitelments. The wonderful thing is he is gone, and so is Denny Hastert, and so is George Bush, and the House GOP is now being defined by up and comming fiscal hawks like Mike Pence, and Paul Ryan. Pence railed against Bush and his irresponsible policies.

As for letting this economy collapse in on itself, I seem to remember a certain President tried to rain in at least the part of the Housing Bubble the gov't was responsible for by providing more strict regulations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, A certain Senator blocked him and even went so far as calling the President names for daring to rain these people in. That President was George W. Bush, and that Senator was Chris Dodd(D-CT) who we now know was the top recipient of Banker donations along with John Kerry and OMG Barack Obama. Now granted this would not have prevented the collapse but the problem would not have been so big if they had been rained in. What happened afterwards is that in the following 3 years those two organizations gave out nearly as many loans as they had between the time they were created and 2005.

[Rowan]

The Blue Dogs are a fraud. Everytime Pelosi says jump, they say "how high?"

[Democratic Hawk]

The Blue Dogs are a fraud. Everytime Pelosi says jump, they say "how high?"

Why would Blue Dogs, for whom the binding principle is fiscal responsibility, necessarily align with Republicans, who have a pretty good track record of being anything but?