Thread: Minnesotans poised for backlash against incumbents

Minnesotans poised for backlash against incumbents

The latest Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute Poll finds likely Minnesota voters are angry and poised for a backlash against incumbents this fall.

The poll shows that unhappiness with Democrats who control the White House and Congress is greatly helping Republicans in Minnesota.

Pollsters interviewed 750 likely voters between Aug. 25 and Sunday. The poll has a 5.3 percentage point margin of sampling error.

"The voters of Minnesota have very high blood pressure and they're absolutely furious," said University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs, who oversaw the poll.

"One of the main themes that comes out of this poll is we are seeing an extraordinary level of high anger at Washington."

The indictment is sweeping, he said.

"Three quarters of Minnesota voters are saying that they never trust Washington or only some of the time," Jacobs said.

"Almost three quarters disapprove of the job that Congress is doing.

Six out of 10 think that the federal government has become much too powerful, and we're seeing majorities also say they disapprove of President Obama and his signature health reform."

Jacobs said there is a clear backlash against politicians in general, but that because Democrats control the White House and Congress, they have the biggest problems right now.

"The 2006 and 2008 elections were very much a referendum on George Bush, the war in Iraq and how things were generally going in the country," he said.

"The 2010 election seems to be shaping up as a referendum on Barack Obama and the socialist Democrats in Washington.

Now, in fairness, the Democrats and President Obama are being held solely responsible for things that didn't really occur on their watch."

That includes the nation's financial meltdown, which was boiling over during Bush's final months in office.

But the poll shows programs pushed by the Obama administration are also greatly hurting Democrats.

A majority told pollsters they disapprove of the health care overhaul, and more than two thirds said the economic stimulus had either no impact on the economy or made the economy worse.

Even though a solid majority of poll respondents - 59 percent - said they thought the federal government has too much power, nearly three out of four said they thought only Social Security and Medicare were worth the cost to taxpayers.

And more than two-thirds said they would support either higher income taxes on relatively high earners, or taxing clothing sales rather than cutting core government services to balance the state budget.

"There are these competing themes of both support for ongoing government programs and a willingness to increase taxes to pay for them, and a more general abstract, philosophical vent of saying, Hey, we should be able to get by with a much smaller government," Jacobs said.

The poll also shows while the tea party has been a very big player within Republican Party politics, there's a backlash from some other voters against candidates associated with it.

Tea party hero Sarah Palin has endorsed Tom Emmer, arguably helping him obtain the GOP endorsement. That could hurt Emmer in the general election.

But Democrats do not want President Obama to come to Minnesota and campaign for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton.

According to the poll, Obama's endorsement will hurt Dayton more than help him.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/loc ... 002e0.html

now thats some reality! dems dont even want hussain stumping, what a joke! little too late for that.

as long as Michele Bachmann gets re-elected