XPost: alt.politics.radical-left, alt.politics.elections
From: @WhiteHouse.org
"ViperSpit" wrote in message
news:MPG.24dc12dd17053c87989adc@news.aioe.org...
The New York Times/CBS poll shows:
a.. Sixty-nine percent of respondents believe Obama's plan will hurt the
quality of their own healthcare.
a.. Seventy-three percent believe it would limit their access to tests and
treatment.
a.. Sixty-two percent believe Democrats' proposals would require them to
change doctors.
a.. Seventy-six believe healthcare reform will lead to them paying higher
taxes.
a.. A whopping 77 percent expect their healthcare costs to rise.
CBS anchor Katie Couric reported on the poll Wednesday evening.
"Less than half approve of the way President Obama is handling healthcare,"
she told viewers. But she gave it a positive spin, saying: "So he has some
convincing to do. And that took him today to the Tar Heel State."
Battleground Poll: Dissatisfaction Growing With Obama, Other Democrats
Thursday, July 30, 2009 8:01 AM
By: Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers Article Font Size
A bipartisan poll released Wednesday indicates President Barack Obama
and the Democratic Party may be putting themselves in political jeopardy
with their expensive and ambitious agenda, which has yet to show benefits
for the country.
"There are warning signs for Democrats heading into 2010," Democratic
pollster Celinda Lake said. "Despite trusting and supporting the Democratic
agenda, majorities think the administration is spending too much and doing
too many things."
Republican pollster Ed Goeas, who conducted the Battleground Poll with
Lake for George Washington University, said it showed signs of a shifting
landscape that could help Republicans start rebounding from back-to-back
election losses in 2006 and 2008, when they lost control of Congress and the
White House.
"It's a lot more fun on the way up than it is on the way down, and
we're already starting to see signs of that," Goeas said. "The demise of the
Republican Party has been overanalyzed and overestimated."
The bipartisan Battleground Poll, which surveyed 1,007 registered
likely voters nationwide July 19-23, has an error margin of plus or minus
3.1 percentage points.
Overall, Obama and the Democrats still have popular support.
The survey found that 53 percent of likely voters approve of the way
Obama is doing his job. It also found that the president and congressional
Democrats had an advantage over Republicans on such issues as health care
and energy independence, and characteristics such as honesty and
middle-class values.
"Obama continues to be very strong as a personal brand. Voters still
like him," Lake said at a breakfast with reporters.
Yet he's facing public skepticism about his agenda and potential
problems with the key voting bloc of independents.
A solid majority of 61 percent, for example, said Obama was spending
too much money. A similar majority of 63 percent said he was trying to do
too many things at once.
Skepticism was rampant among Republicans but also evident among
independents.
Among independents, the poll found Obama's job approval dropping to 42
percent and his disapproval rising to 50 percent. Of that 50 percent who
disapprove, the vast majority disapprove strongly, the poll found.
Independents also were much more likely than Democrats to say Obama is
spending too much money - 76 percent of independents said that. Sixty-eight
percent of independents said he is trying to do too much.
Independents supported having government power divided between the
major political parties by 53 percent to 29 percent, rivaling Republicans
and potentially signaling dissatisfaction with Democratic control of the
White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Looking ahead to 2010, when the entire 435-member House and one-third
of the Senate are up for election, Goeas and Lake said Republicans as of now
had more intensity - a passion that could turn into an edge in getting their
voters to turn out.
The poll found 75 percent of Republicans saying they definitely will
vote, a clear edge over the 66 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of
independents who say they will.
"Part of what has to be troubling to Democrats is the issue of
turnout," Lake said. "Republicans, while generally more divided on issues
and perceptions, are more enthusiastic about the election than Democrats and
are more likely to vote."
Goeas noted two other challenges for the Democrats: Voting by young
people, a key bloc for Democrats in 2008, usually drops by 5 percentage
points in a midterm election, and voting by older voters, historically more
Republican, rises by the same amount.
Lake, the Democratic pollster, said there was plenty of time for
Democrats to turn things around. While only one in three voters said the
$787 billion economic stimulus plan was working, 58 percent said it was "on
track" and that it should be given a year to work.
Lake also said that 57 percent of voters thought former President
George W. Bush had made today's economic woes worse.
"The key is to prepare for a blame election," she said. "It's very
important to draw the contrast between what we've tried to do and how the
Republicans have tried to hold on to the failed Bush policies."
Goeas said there was an "expiration date" on blaming Bush. "The Bush
thing will begin to fade more and more and more," he said. "Especially if
Republicans don't try to defend Bush and just move into the future."
Copyright 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Reprinted Via
Newscom.
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