Trust on Issues

Voters Give GOP 10-Point Edge Over Democrats on Economy

Sunday, July 24, 2011
many links on this post

With lawmakers haggling over government debt and consumer confidence at a two-year low, voter confidence in Republicans to handle the economy is growing.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 45% trust Republicans more when it comes to handling economic issues, while 35% put more trust in Democrats. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The gap was the closest in years in May when the GOP held just a 46% to 42% lead on the economy, which voters have consistently regarded as the most important of 10 issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on nine of those 10 issues. In May, Republicans led on just six issues after being trusted more on all 10 in early January. Two years ago Democrats were trusted more than Republicans on most issues. Still, there are several issues that the parties are close on in terms of trust.

Health care, which voters rank second behind the economy in terms of importance, is an issue the GOP holds a tight 46% to 43% advantage on. Before President Obama was elected, Democrats had a huge advantage on this issue. During Election 2010, the advantage switched to the GOP. In May, the parties were essentially tied.

A majority of voters continue to support repeal of the national health care law and believe it will increase the federal deficit.

Two national telephone surveys of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters were conducted July 18-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error for each survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Taxes are a big part of the debt ceiling debate, and voters trust Republicans more than Democrats by a 46% to 40% margin on that issue.

Most voters are worried that the final debt ceiling deal will raise taxes too much and cut spending too little. Seventy-five percent (75%) believe that even if the deal includes tax hikes only on the wealthy, ultimately taxes will be raised on the middle class, too. Still, the majority of voters don’t care much for the way either political party is performing in the debt ceiling debate.

The one issue Democrats do hold an advantage in trust on is education, 42% to 38%. Nineteen percent (19%) aren’t sure which party they trust more, however.

The parties are nearly tied on the issue of Social Security, with Republicans holding a statistically insignificant 42% to 40% lead. In May, Democrats barely edged the GOP on this issue.

Republicans hold a slight 38% to 35% edge in the area of government ethics and corruption, a reversal from the modest lead Democrats held in May. But 27% of voters don’t know who to trust more on this issue.

On immigration, Republicans hold a sizable 47% to 33% advantage, with 21% of voters are undecided.

Two-out-of-three (66%) voters think gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already living in America when it comes to immigration reform policy. More voters continue to favor tougher laws against employers who hire illegal immigrants than against landlords who rent to them. But support for strong sanctions against both employers and landlords is at record highs.

As is always the case, Republicans hold the trust advantage when it comes to national security and the War on Terror and the handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Confidence that that the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror soared following the killing of Osama bin Laden and has remained high ever since. But voter optimism about U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has slipped back to levels measured before bin Laden's death.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... _on_issues