The party of responsible federal spending

March 28, 2006

Time magazine released its latest national poll the other day, which showed Dems with a pretty healthy lead over the GOP in a generic congressional ballot, 50% to 41%. But as Shaun at Upper Left noted, there were some more interesting numbers if you dig through the internals a bit.

Which party would do a better job of …

… rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast? Democrats 48%, Republicans 21%

… standing up to special interests? Democrats 40%, Republicans 22%

… managing government spending? Democrats 46%, Republicans 31%

… dealing with corruption in government? Democrats 39%, Republicans 25%

… protecting the rights of Americans? Democrats 48%, Republicans 35%

… managing tax policies? Democrats 45%, Republicans 38%

… dealing with the war in Iraq? Democrats 40%, Republicans 41%

… dealing with terrorism? Democrats 33%, Republicans 44%

The two that jump out at me are the ones on “managing government spending” and “managing tax policies.”

Late last week, the president decided he’d roll out the ol’ tax-and-spend attack, telling an audience in Indiana, “The difference is clear: if you want the government in your pocket, vote Democrat; if you want to keep more of your hard-earned money, vote Republican.” And yet, this poll shows when it comes to taxing and spending, the public — by a fairly wide margin — prefers the Dems’ approach to the GOP’s.

I wonder when was the last time so many more Americans trusted the Dems on taxes and spending. It was probably the last time Dems had a congressional majority.

… standing up to special interests? Democrats 0% Republicans 0%

Does either party have any real claim to independence from big money?
We are comparing tarnished against tawdry.
While he corruption party in power is getting fat at the feed bin, the hungry party is waiting for its turn.
I think I know why the Democrats are so gutless.
Dems don’t want to piss off the keepers, thinking soon it will be their meal time.

  • How can repubs hold an 11point lead on Terrorism after the Dubai Ports deal? Dems have to link these things! Afghanistan is slipping into Taliban mode. Osama is still on the loose. Bush is shreading the Consitiution with wiretapping. “[P]rotecting the rights of Americans? Democrats 48%, Republicans 35%” is linked to fighting terrorism. Howard Dean has to get out there and start connecting some dots!

  • I’m suprised you don’t have anything to say about the GOP lead on fighting terrorism. It seems rather disappointing given that the Democrats were just starting to pick up a lead on that. What happened? Wide margin of error? Was the public turned off by Feingold’s resolution?

  • The Republicans are always going to have a lead on the generic issue of “terrorism” because a lot of people (particularly Republicans) equate “fighting terrorism” with “willingness to kill a lot of Muslims” and “willingness to be reckless and trample on the rights of Americans.” In other words, the same things that create the Democrats’ lead on protecting the rights of Americans create the Republicans’ lead on terrorism. I don’t know that there’s much that can be done about that.

  • We are comparing tarnished against tawdry.
    While he corruption party in power is getting fat at the feed bin, the hungry party is waiting for its turn. –Comment by kali

    Sadly I think it is true. There is so much money involved in our system, that we do seem to have the “best government that money can buy.” Having said that I still think we have to get rid of the Repug majority. They have absolutely gone over the top. I have never seen such blatant incompetence and corruption in such a high concentration. They have looted the treasury, abused our time honored laws, trampled on our civil rights, and attacked our environmentregulations that we spent decades creating. It has to stop and it is up to the people to stop them. If these guys stay in power, I fear for our republic. I don’t know how our country can survive much more assault on our institutions.

  • M.A. has a good point. There are a number of Americans – mostly illiterate, snaggle-toothed, drooling, knuckle-draggers and abusers – who only light up when someone (preferably of color) is gettng beat up or killed. These people, which used to constitute the Democrats’ “solid south” and after 1964 switched to the GOP – cannot be changed. Hopefully, sometime they’ll die off. But they constitute a mega-force in states which have a disproportionate stranglehold on the Electoral College.

  • And if we want to turn “war in Iraq” and “terrorism” around in 2006 and 2008 it’s about getting veterans elected, so that this long-standing belief about Republicans can finally be put to rest. Being strong on defense is going to dominate the public discourse for the next 40 years — we need to establish our creds NOW.

    Got to say, given those poll numbers, it’s hard to see how we could lose if we run Wesley Clark as the Democratic presidential candidate.

  • No no no Democrats are “Tax and Spend” libruls.

    Now, meet the “Max out and Squander” Republicans…

    • Comments are closed.