NYT poll shows ‘voters want new approach’

November 2, 2006

Going into the homestretch of the campaign season, the list of factors going in the Republicans’ direction is exceedingly short.

A substantial majority of Americans expect Democrats to reduce or end American military involvement in Iraq if they win control of Congress next Tuesday and say Republicans will maintain or increase troop levels to try to win the war if they hold on to power on Capitol Hill, according to the final New York Times/CBS News poll before the midterm election.

The poll showed that 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is managing the war, matching the lowest mark of his presidency. Nearly 70 percent said Mr. Bush did not have a plan to end the war, and 80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

If GOP leaders hoped to approach the final week with some momentum, they’re likely to be severely disappointed.

Indeed, one of the ironies of the right-wing noise machine attacking John Kerry with such gusto this week is that it brought attention back to the war in Iraq, which according to the poll, is the last place Republicans want the public to focus. The war, the NYT poll found, is far and away the most important issue in the elections, and only 29% of Americans approve of Bush’s handling of it. For that matter, 69% of respondents said Bush has not developed a clear plan for dealing with Iraq, and 76% say a Democratic congress is more likely to bring U.S. troops back home sooner.

The result led to a staggering 19-point lead for Dems on the generic ballot question: 52% to 33%. With less than a week to go, that’s unheard of.

Moreover, the national security edge the GOP has enjoyed is completely gone. Slightly more Americans believe the terrorist threat increase under Republican rule than under Dem rule, and the number of Americans who believe the war in Iraq had made the threat of terrorism worse outnumbers those who believe the opposite by a 2-to-1 margin.

Going through the details (.pdf) of the poll, it’s chock full of interesting data.

* Taxes — Americans expect their taxes to go up, no matter which party controls Congress. This probably undercuts the Republicans’ bogus line about Dems raising taxes on everyone.

* Economy — By a 22% margin, Americans believe the economy is getting worse, not better.

* Same-sex marriage — A surprisingly-high majority now believe same-sex relationships should be made legal. According to the poll, 28% of Americans support gay marriage, while 29% support civil unions. Combined, that’s 57% of the country.

* Political independents — Unaffiliated voters are breaking the Dems’ way big time. 23% of independents said they plan to vote for Republicans on Tuesday, while 50% prefer Dems.

* Issues — Poll respondents said they thought a Democratic-led Congress would be more likely to increase the minimum wage, hold down rapidly rising health and prescription drug costs, and improve the economy.

Consider this your morale boost for the day.

“Consider this your morale boost for the day.” – CB

Thank you.

I wish we were out there more on the Bushite failures on terrorism. Allowing 9/11/01. All the attacks after that around the world. Not revenging the Cole. Not finding the (Domestic) terrorist behind the Anthrax attacks. The Ports deal. Childish and political raising and lowering of the threat level. The failure after Katrina and what that means for our ability to handle a biological or radiological attack.

And most of all, porking out security funding based advise from Red State police departments that ignores the fact that New York and D.C. are the most likely targets.

But it is nice to see that Americans already get it 😉

  • #2 Dumbest Congressman Don Young of Alaska said four stupid things yesterday. First, that predictions of a Democratic takeover are nothing but a media construct. Second, that John Kerry hates the troops. Third, that we ought to pull out of Iraq slowly, though he realizes that will result in genocide (and despite the fact that it’s basically Murtha’s much-reviled plan). And fourth, that it was worth getting rid of Saddam to prevent World War III.

  • “And fourth, that it was worth getting rid of Saddam to prevent World War III.” – Grumpy

    How exactly was Saddam going to start world war three, and aren’t we in it (or WWIV) now?

  • Childish and political raising and lowering of the threat level.

    Interesting we haven’t heard about that in a while, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s just a function of living in DC but it could get confusing, especially during the summer. Air quality has long been measured on a rainbow scale so you might hear a report that Air Quality was code red while the terrorist level was code orange and I would be filled with the urge to beat someone black and blue.

    I wonder if Fatherland Security has gone silent on its little colour scheme because it’s been stuck at Yellow (elevated) forever and it might call people’s attention to the fact that five years later we’re still not any safer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they jack it up on the 7th or raise it to Red if the Dems take a majority.

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