- 30 Jan 2011 20:46
#13614676
A little late this week, I've been busy and am going to get busier.
President Obama, in his State of the Union address last Tuesday night, called his plans for targeted new spending in areas like education, transportation and technology “investment,” but his speech did little to sell the idea to voters.
Rasmussen Reports asked voters the same three questions about the president’s economic proposals on the two nights prior to the speech and then again on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. On the first two nights, 39% supported the proposals. On the next two nights, support was 41%. Fifty percent (50%) now oppose the federal government spending more money in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation, up from 45% in the previous survey.
The bottom line is that most voters, as they have in surveys for years now, continue to feel that cutting taxes and reducing government spending are best for the economy.
The need for deficit reduction also was a key part of the State of the Union speech, but few voters (22%) expect the president to hit his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
After all, despite talk from congressional Republicans, most voters (54%) still think Congress is unlikely to significantly reduce government spending over the next year.
The new Congress, even with a Republican majority in the House, has a ways to go to convince voters it's not just as bad as the one that ended in December. Just 10% rate the new Congress’ performance as good or excellent. Forty-eight percent (48%) say the legislators are doing a poor job. GOP voters remain the biggest critics, as Scott notes in a video analysis.
Following the House's recent repeal of the national health care law, sending the issue on to the Senate, most voters continue to favor repeal, but support has fallen to its lowest level since late October. Fewer voters also now believe the law will force them to change their existing health insurance coverage.
Republicans still hold a five-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot – 44% to 39%, but it’s their smallest lead since the first week of December.
The president also argued strongly in his State of the Union speech for a bipartisan effort to create jobs, but most Americans think the best thing government can do is get out of the way. Sixty percent (60%) of Adults think decisions made by U.S. business leaders to help their own businesses grow will do more to help create jobs in America than decisions made by government officials.
The overwhelming majority of Americans continue to know someone who is out of work and looking for a job, but the number who believe unemployment will be higher one year from now is at its lowest level in over a year. Confidence in the current job market also has reached a recent high.
As the end of the month approaches, the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes are up very slightly from the first of the year.
It was a tie game, by the way, when we asked voters which they were more interested in watching – the president’s State of the Union speech or the upcoming Super Bowl.
Obama’s job approval ratings have been on the rise in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, and now voters show less negativity toward both his leadership abilities and style.
Also, the number of voters who blame the president's policies for the country's continuing economic problems versus the recession that began under his predecessor George W. Bush is at its lowest level since early October 2009.
So how’s the president’s 2012 opposition shaping up these days?
History tells us that primary polls are all about name recognition at this early stage, and right now the best-known Republican hopefuls are running ahead among likely party primary voters. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leads the pack with the support of 24%. Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin runs second with 19%, closely followed by Mike Huckabee with 17%.
While Palin remains a top favorite of Republican voters, she’s also the front-runner they least want to see get the GOP’s 2012 presidential nomination. One-in-three likely primary voters (33%), in fact, feel that way.
So what if Romney, Palin, Huckabee and Newt Gingrich decide not to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 or their campaigns falter in the early going? Who will the GOP turn to? Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani emerges as the clear leader among a group of eight other prominent Republicans whose names have been mentioned as possible presidential candidates, with Tim Pawlenty, who recently stepped down as governor of Minnesota, in second place.
Speaking of governors, more and more states are facing serious budget shortfalls, but most voters nationwide (53%) continue to oppose federal bailout funding for these states.
States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but Gingrich, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and others have argued that bankruptcy might be the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren't thrilled with the idea, but they like it better than higher taxes. They’re even more supportive if told government employees might have their pensions reduced in the process.
In other surveys last week:
-- Only 29% of voters say the country is heading in the right direction, consistent with findings since November.
-- Jared Loughner, the Arizona man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others, has pleaded not guilty to murder, but most Americans (56%) believe he should receive the death penalty if convicted.
-- What did Americans do in the past week? Sixty-eight percent (68%) read a book. Nearly the same number (67%) played a sport or did some kind of physical exercise. Forty-nine percent (49%) attended a religious service. And, of course, they did a lot more.
-- Americans are no more inclined to buy a new or used car now than they were a year ago, but among those who are in the auto market Ford comes out just ahead of General Motors and Chrysler.
-- Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years.
-- Being vice president has generally been a thankless but not too demanding job. Joe Biden, unlike his predecessor Dick Cheney, seems to be following this more traditional model, and voters are viewing him slightly more favorably these days.
-- Burger battle. In a showdown among the top three fast-food hamburger chains, Americans prefer Wendy’s over McDonald’s and Burger King.
Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.
—Edmund Burke
—Edmund Burke