Americans to Washington: Reject Bush agenda
At this point, it’s tempting to disregard national political polls about the policy agenda in DC. All of the recent data is exactly the same — Bush is unpopular, the war is unpopular, and the public backs Dems over the GOP — so there’s no real point in getting worked up about this week’s numbers mirroring last week’s numbers, which mirror the week before.
However, the WaPo noted about a week ago that congressional Republicans are still taking polls seriously, particularly when it comes to Iraq. When a recent Gallup poll included a hint of good news about Americans’ attitudes towards Gen. David Petraeus, “GOP Senate offices circulated the results.” The numbers were skewed, and Republicans were cherry-picking from the data, but the fact that they were even looking to polls in the first place shows that they are interested in public opinion.
And with that in mind, congressional Republicans might want to take a good, long look at the new WaPo/ABC poll.
Most Americans oppose fully funding President Bush’s $190 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a sizable majority support an expansion of a children’s health insurance bill he has promised to veto, putting Bush and many congressional Republicans on the wrong side of public opinion on upcoming foreign and domestic policy battles.
The new Washington Post-ABC News poll also shows deep dissatisfaction with the president and with Congress. Bush’s approval rating stands at 33 percent, equal to his career low in Post-ABC polls. And just 29 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, its lowest approval rating in this poll since November 1995, when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. It also represents a 14-point drop since Democrats took control in January.
Despite discontent with Congress this year, the public rates congressional Republicans (29 percent approve) lower than congressional Democrats (38 percent approve). When the parties are pitted directly against each other, the public broadly favors Democrats on Iraq, health care, the federal budget and the economy. Only on the issue of terrorism are Republicans at parity with Democrats.
What’s more, frustration with Congress stems entirely from the public’s desire to see lawmakers stand up to Bush on Iraq more, not less.
Now, it’s worth noting that there’s still some confusion about how best to proceed.
At the same time, there is no consensus about the pace of any U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. In July, nearly six in 10 said they wanted to decrease the number of troops there, but now a slim majority, 52 percent, think Bush’s plan for removing some troops by next summer is either the right pace for withdrawal (38 percent) or too hasty (12 percent would like a slower reduction, and 2 percent want no force reduction). Fewer people (43 percent) want a quicker exit.
John Csanadi of Nanuet, N.Y., said he has mixed feelings about what to do next in Iraq. Asked about Bush’s proposal for a modest drawdown of troops, he said: “It’s a start. Not the best solution, but at least it’s a start.”
Indeed, as Kevin Drum noted, “52% think Bush’s schedule for troop deployments is about right (or should be even more aggressive). However, 70% think funding for the war should be reduced. In other words, about 18% of the population supports Bush’s war plan but doesn’t support funding it.”
My hunch is that the wording of the question matters a great deal here. The Post didn’t publish the raw data and/or the questionnaire online (at least I couldn’t find it), but I suspect poll participants were asked whether they approve of the idea of withdrawing 5,000 troops by Christmas, 30,000 troops by the summer, and as many as 60,000 by the end of 2008. I imagine a lot of Americans hear “thousands of troops coming home” and immediately like the idea, not realizing that those troops were scheduled to return anyway, and that the modest withdrawals do not actually represent a change in policy.
As for Congress’ unpopularity, more than eight in 10 Americans, including large majorities across party lines, said Congress has accomplished “not too much” or “nothing at all” this year. Bad news for the majority party, right? Well, not exactly.
By a 2 to 1 margin, those who see little accomplishment in Congress’s first nine months blame the inaction on Bush and the GOP more than they do the majority Democrats. Fifty-one percent place primary fault with the president and congressional Republicans, and 25 percent on the Democrats.
The next time you hear a conservative crowing that the Democratic Congress receives low marks, keep these numbers in mind.
“What’s more, frustration with Congress stems entirely from the public’s desire to see lawmakers stand up to Bush on Iraq more, not less.”
someone want to clue in the democrats in congress on this?
just bill –
Naw – what’ll happen is this:
In 2008 a Dem will get elected President. Suddenly Republican lawmakers will get all concerned about how much money this whole enterprise is costing and how little support the public has for it. They’ll start screaming about “lack of leadership” from the White House and about how useless the Iraqi Parliament is. The media (who need to be pointed at a story the way a dog needs its nose rubbed in its own excrement) will dutifully report how terrible the Iraqi Parliament is doing, how awful the leadership from the White House is and how the Democrats in Congress seem to be enabling the President in prosecuting this disastrous war. By the middle of 2009 (June, maybe July) the “serious people” in DC will have done a complete 180 and will be insisting that Congress “listen to the people” and pull out of Iraq immediately.
The upshot will be that the Republicans will blame the Democrats for “losing” Iraq and will insist that if only a Republican had been elected the war “could have been won.” Their noise machine will crank up and will slander, dissemble, and outright lie to their base about who did what and, since the Dems have been enablers of this whole mess, the general public will begin to “remember” that things happened that way. Disgruntled independents upset with how the Dems are governing and disgusted by the fact that the Dems continue to be a bunch of weak-kneed pansies will turn to the next GOP “savior” that comes along – sweeping the GOP back into power for another decade.
That’s how I suspect it will play out. All based on the assumption that the Democratic Party’s so-called “leadership” doesn’t suddenly find some courage and stand up to the GOP bullies who control the conversation, of course, but that seems to be a good assumption to make these days. I had high hopes last fall, but wow, the Dems haven’t learned a single goddamn thing during their decade out in the political wilderness did they?
If the American People really understood what is taking place in the once-sovereign nation state of Iraq, I think that the overwhelming majority would want an immediate (if not sooner) withdrawal –except, of course, the 28% Reich Wing Authoritarian dead-enders.
But since the U.S. Military Occupation of Iraq is sold today as a “war” and not an occupation, many Americans still imagine that there is some measure of success possible in Iraq through the continued presence of the U.S. Armed Forces. Of course most of us know that this is a fallacy.
The situation is further complicated with the implication that Iraq is a “battleground” in the Global War On a Psychological State (or Nefarious Tactic, if you prefer).
Forcing the Iraqi population into submission through the continued subjugation of that population by way of a police state imposed by a foreign occupier will not lead to “reconciliation” or a “stable” Iraqi government. It will only prolong the colonization of Iraq by the American Empire built by anational, amoral men such as “Dick” Cheney on the backs of the American Taxpayers and the American Armed Forces.
And what does the colonization and taxation without representation of foreign lands lead to? Resentment. Hatred. Rebellion (insurgency). Revolt.
Are these the “cause of freedom” for America?
One would think that all the damned triangulators in the Dem Caucus would figure it out. Bush Bad. Bush Ideas EVEN Worse. Bush not popular.
I couldn’t figure out why the Dem Senators rolled over in 2000 over the Florida recount (as seen in Moore’s Farenheit 9-11.) Now I know.
Seriously, the Dems need to shitcan their current leadership.
The problem really is not the Democrats – it’s the Republicans who are ignoring the will of their constituents. When the percentages reach above 50% and up into the 70% range, and legislation is still going down to defeat, it isn’t because the Democrats are not listening to the people, it’s because the Republicans are lining up with the president, and not with the people they represent.
I would be curious to know what kind of feedback is coming into the offices of Republican members of Congress. With Lindsey Graham now making some kind of noise about giving the Iraqi government 90 days to show signs that it really wants to accomplish the goals and benchmarks that would get them closer to being a real government, one wonders if he’s not making some token attempt to placate the critics in his state, hoping they will not notice that the 90-days talk is completely toothless.
With a slim-to-none majority in the Senate, I think the Dems have done a pretty terrible job of framing issues, and I think they have failed to take advantage of the rules and procedures in ways that would have benefited them, and ultimately benefited the country.
But in terms of carrying out the will of the people? It’s the Republicans, stupid.
Or maybe that should be, “It’s the stupid Republicans.”
Like alot of others my desire would be to bring all the troops home tomorrow however the logistics of doing that are not that simple. In order to draw all troops from Iraq would take up to 2 years to insure proper security for our troops.
As for the approval rating of congress most people are uninformed as to what goes on in congress. All they hear is sound bites that nothing is being done so therefore their opinions really don’t mean much. I beleive that if a poll was done on a basis of the respondant knowing their own rep or sen view on a bill then weed out those who know nothing.
Maybe just a coincidence, but now Clinton impeachment poster boy Senator Lindsay Graham wants a 90 day deadline for Iraqi leaders to get it together. He doesn’t offer anything real, just electioneering rhetoric to begin his attempt to get reelected. His deportment on Iraq has been reprehensible, and now he is worming his way into a campaign spin of how he was against it ever since President Bush was for it. If Mr. Graham does succeed in getting reelected, I have but one question for the voters of his home state – who the fool fools? -Kevo
Anne –
The Republicans deserve the bulk of the blame for everything that has gone wrong in this country for the last 5 years. I agree with you on that one 100%. However, you can’t say that the Republicans aren’t listening to their constituents – Republicans don’t believe that anyone who isn’t going to vote for them counts as a constituent. So if they’re doing what the 28% of their district who is going to vote for them WANT them to do, they’re serving their constituents in their own minds.
Heck some of those Republican congress critters probably have districts where over 50% of the district wants the occupation/war to continue “until the job is done”. Just because the majority of the country is fed up with what’s going on doesn’t mean that pockets of the country aren’t on board for endless war in the Middle East.
And whether I think the Dems deserve blame or not – and I think they do – not just for “horrible framing” but for their endless capitulation to Republican desires and Bush’s demands – the GOP is going to work its ASS of for the next four years to make sure that the Dems get as much of the blame as the voters are willing to hang on them. And given how little shame the GOP have about blatant lying to voters, and how weak-kneed the Democrats are about standing up to the GOP in general, they’ll probably succeed in getting the narrative turned around so that a good sized chunk of the country believes that Democrats “lost Iraq” and that the only way to “restore honor to the country” is to elect Republicans to office. Hey if you’re going to lie you might as well make it big.
Everyone who is against this war should keep their sons and daughters away from the recruiting stations. Let the “spawn of psychophants and theophiles” fill the ranks of the army. Let THEM die in the gutters and back-alleys of Iraq.
And let them further retard the ability of the psychophants and theophiles to breed their “quiver-full” way to an evangelical empire, because such a course would eventually leave the psychophants and theophiles with two options, being (1) turn against support for their “Xian Jihad,” or (2) embrace cultural extinction.
Steve,
If you can tell your children what to do and have them always obey, you probably aren’t a Democrat.
Jen, I can tell my children what to do, and explain the “how” and “why” of it to them in terms that they understand. That should be a benchmarkmark of “being a Democrat.” And given that the proactive way of fighting a forest fire is to remove the fuel from the fire’s path, then so, too, it is the proactive way to fight against this war—by removing the “fuel”—the cannon-fodder—from Mr. Bush’s grasp.
But then again, I guess some folks don’t believe in benchmarks. They oft-times tend to be Republicans.
Anne, come on. Democrats are ENTIRELY to blame for where we are right now.
This a basically a two-party system, with what amounts to a “I don’t want to vote for either party” third-party candidate. One party has proven their leadership is unscrupulous, uncreative and uncaring. Yet, the other party has managed to hand the presidency to a clown of a candidate. . . twice. Despite public opinion. Despite winning the popular vote. Despite a failing war, a failing economy and disasterous policies in every corner of the government.
At some point you have to start blaming the Dems for losing the most winnable elections of our generation. What do you do about it? You elect new leadership.