Thread: Poll: Public already losing patience with new Congress

Poll: Public already losing patience with new Congress:

Posted on Sunday, March 20, 2011

By David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Once again, the public is getting increasingly disgusted with Washington.

It sees a failure to adopt remedies for even the most basic, pressing issues of the day, as Congress struggles to craft a federal budget. And incumbents are getting worried about the political implications.

"It's hurting some of us," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who's up for re-election next year. "They blame everybody."

A new Pew Research Center poll shows that about half of Americans think the debate over spending and deficits has been "generally rude and disrespectful."

There's even bipartisan agreement — 48 percent of Republicans and Democrats have that view, as well as 57 percent of independents. President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to provide funding to keep the government open until April 8, the sixth such temporary extension in the 6-month-old fiscal year.

Pew surveyed 1,525 adults from March 8-14. The poll's findings suggest the political losers so far have been Republicans, who rode a wave of voter irritation to win control of the House of Representatives last fall.

After the election, 35 percent said Republicans had a better approach to the deficit, expected to reach a record $1.65 trillion this year. This month, that number has plunged to 21 percent.

People don't think Obama has better ideas, either — 20 percent found his approach better, down from November's 24 percent. Total sample margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The most restless constituency has involved supporters of the conservative tea party movement. After the November election, where backers helped elect dozens of congressional Republicans, three of four movement supporters liked GOP budget plans. This month that figure dropped to 52 percent.

"People are growing impatient," said Carroll Doherty, Pew associate director.

The've been impatient for years. In 2006, voters gave Democrats control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years. Two years later, Obama, a Democrat, reclaimed the White House for his party after eight years of Republican George W. Bush. Last year, Republicans reclaimed control of the House.

"The American public is getting tired of change elections and then not seeing change. There have been three change elections in a row, but people today figure things are still adrift," said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the McClatchy-Marist poll.

Political veterans are scrambling to educate their constituents about the deliberate pace of Washington.

"People should understand we do things in baby steps," said Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo, of Sacramento, Calif. "We have to remind people that while we just had a historic election, the reality is, we're woefully short of 60 votes in the Senate." Democrats control 53 of the Senate's 100 seats.

But Russo's fighting a world where the public can get instant, nonstop, unfiltered access to Congress and commentary.

Republicans had benefited from that openness during the two-year fight over overhauling the nation's health care system. Procedural delays forced major votes to occur after midnight, and in one case, at dawn on Christmas Eve.

GOP opponents used what looked like procedural chaos to portray Democrats as unable to run Congress effectively. Now, though, it's Republicans who are in charge of the House, and they're feeling the heat.

The public doesn't understand all the nuances of the legislative process, so what they see "reinforces the perception that Washington can't get anything done," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Report, which follows congressional races.

House Republicans, who have a 241-192 majority, have found it relatively easy to win approval of their major initiatives: repealing the health care law, cutting $61 billion from current-year spending, blocking federal funding for public broadcasting and so on.

The stumbling block has been the Senate. Health care repeal and the $61 billion spending cuts died there, and the effort to defund NPR is also expected to go nowhere.

One way to explain the process, Hatch said, is to stress the value of experience.

He talks about how, in January 2009, veteran pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger steered a disabled US Airways plane into the Hudson River in New York City. The passengers and crew all survived.

"Experience matters," said Hatch, "and when you explain that, it makes people stop and think."

What may help incumbents more are two developments.

One is that, unlike the health care fight, the budget battle isn't dominating headlines. Since the start of 2011, three stories have gotten the most attention: The Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat; the Middle East turmoil, and Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

"Washington's fights have not broken through as a top story," said Doherty of Pew.

Even if they do, the 2012 elections are a long way off. Health care legislation won final approval a year ago, during the primary season.

But if the economy rebounds strongly this year, or a grand budget compromise is reached, process chaos could be long forgotten. In that case, said Gonzales, "results will matter most."

But if the economy continues to stumble, or the budget fight drags on and on, the fractured process could matter a lot.

"If the government shuts down," said Gonzales, "no one really knows what the political fallout will be."

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Quite true. People are already getting pissed at the Republicans for giving in on major cuts they promised. The people were ready for a government shutdown and to allow it stayed shut down as long as needed to get cuts. But Reps are giving in way to easy.

The Dems are doing the same old crap that got them thrown out not even getting the message of why they got thrown out. They are hoping that enough fallout will keep them in some control of the Senate and as long as Obama wins in 2012 who needs the Congress anyways...

I am disgusted. The new Republicans are just as worthless as the old Republicans.

Originally Posted by bigtex

I am disgusted. The new Republicans are just as worthless as the old Republicans.

I wouldn't go quite that far. Yes some are but many are being voiced out by the GOP. They are being branded as traitors on the inside of the Republican Party and threatened and many aren't backing down but still being outvoted on the issues as there are enough old Reps left to side with Dems to get what they want and cut off the new Reps. The GOP is hoping doing this will force all of the new Reps in Congress to play ball with what they want.

You really don't hear any of this unless in the Media and the new Reps are still trying to avoid splitting the GOP party down the middle as they know right now they would hurt the entire Republican agenda. But if you pay attention more are looking at joining the Tea Party Caucus and more behind the scenes talk of a new Tea Party Party come 2012 timeframe.

What they lack is a main leader, most are still fairly inexperienced and being stonewalled and they need someone with experience and more of a moderate conservative approach to rally behind.

Do keep in mind the GOP WANTS us to think these new congress members are renigging on their promises and playing politics as usual. It forces a hand where they think the only choice is siding fully with the GOP or turncoating Dem.