The latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, released late yesterday, includes quite a bit of bad news for congressional Republicans, as they continue to resist compromising in the fiscal talks they initiated. Indeed, the poll shows the GOP on the wrong side of just about every issue.
But looking through the internals (pdf), something else jumped out at me: Republicans are really unpopular. I put together this chart pointing to favorability ratings throughout 2012 for President Obama, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party.
Note that the figures were fairly consistent throughout the year, but as 2012 draws to a close, it's the president and his party that are on the upswing, while it's the GOP that's faltering.
What's more, that's where things stand now -- it's likely attitudes towards Republicans will get worse if GOP lawmakers refuse to strike a fiscal agreement and begin 2013 by threatening to hurt Americans on purpose in a new debt-ceiling crisis.
At this point, only two groups of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party: rural Americans and white Southerners. That's it. That's not exactly a recipe for a competitive national party in the 21st century.
Wait, it gets worse.
When the poll asked respondents, "When you think about the Democratic Party what word or short phrase would you use to describe the Democratic Party?" the results were roughly split between positive and negative words, 35% to 37%. When asked, "When you think about the Republican Party what word or short phrase would you use to describe the Republican Party?" the results were one-sided -- 17% volunteered positive words, while 65% used negative words.
Among self-identified Republican voters, the most common responses when asked about their own party was "broken," "lost," and "weak."
Ouch.
In theory, this should motivate Republican leaders to be more constructive and responsible, but all available evidence suggests they intend to do the exact opposite.
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Grover Norquist is a false idol. The people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly in favor of a progressive agenda that protects the most vulnerable Americans and restores the basic functions of our government. The GOP is currently in severe demographic crisis and virtually on the path to extinction without a real change in their ideology. This is hardly a position of strength with which to negotiate from. The Tea Party needs to stop their anti-American radicalism and accept reality as it stands.Republican ideology is in the minority. Conservatives will have to adapt and compromise or else face more elections like 2012. -- progressive
At this point, only two groups of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party: rural Americans and white Southerners.
Yeah - Put the GOP supporters from those two groups on a Venn diagram and you'll be looking for the second circle.
Not necessarily. You do have states like Pennsylvania - Philly and Pittsburgh with Kentucky in the middle.
Like Steve said - Rural Americans.
I think it's worth noting that unfortunately that, that sort of "Southern" mentality isn't confined to the Geographic South anymore. I live in Rural Indiana and I won't tell you how many Confederate Battle flags there are here or how many people have attitudes that go right along with them.
And before anyone calls me on it I will say it myself: No I am NOT a big fan of the Confederacy. One hundred and forty seven years later and we are still hashing out the civil war...
It's true, Republicans have no good response to the party of Free Stuff. There are two kinds of Free Stuff party members, people that want free stuff, and people that want to give it to them... all at someone elses expense.
One can't say the electorate prefers bribery, though it does.
One can't say big deficits are bad for the country, because there is no discernible connection to unemployment. After all, if individuals spend more they get more stuff. But this time it's free.
One can't say people need to struggle to succeed, that's being mean/racist/inhumane.
One can't point out how free stuff debilitates http://news.yahoo.com/liberals-reject-conservatives-embrace-kristofs-welfare-argument-210835503--abc-news-politics.html
One can't easily illustrate that the economy requires profits to run, people apparently think elves really make cookies, and that stuff they need and want magically appears by "demand".
So... I got nothing.
Republicans have become the party of "screw you" and "my way or the highway" and "sharia law". They believe government can do no right and are out to prove it. They would do a lot better if they were not still fighting the culture wars.
Free stuff has very little to do with their popularity problem. But keep telling yourselves that it's all about free stuff and you will continue to lose unless you are able to cheat your way into office.
That's right, blanks. You. Got. Nothing.
Now move along.
Shooter
If you want to talk about deficite spending and tax hikes I got two words for you: Ronald Regan
Either play honestly or go bake a cake
Oh, Blanks, you are so right....you got nothing. But the same old tired BS. The only bribery that went on in the last election was Adleson, Koch Bros and a few other billionaires trying to buy a President and congress. Wonder what they were going to get for their money?
As hard as it is, maybe it's time for you to admit that you are in the party of "stupid". You had unlimited money, an economy that would sink any President, you gerrymandered, lied, cheated, threw away ballots, tried to keep people from voting....and still couldn't win. Now, instead of learning from failure, you stand in front of the teacher yelling "HE DID IT" and pointing to the kid next to you.
My Dog! We are sooooo lucky. How in the world would you expect to run a government when you can't even win an election with those odds in your favor? Maybe it's time to grow up.
Oh and one more thing Shooter,
Actually yeah it dose work that way. The way basic economics work is that consumers (the great unwashed masses you seem to dislike so much) "Demand" something and they are willing to pay for it. Then someone makes it and sells it.
Unfortunately these days consumers don't have as much money to spend on things and all those widgets and doohickeys are made somewhere else because it's cheaper and therefore the people at the top make more money.
The whole "Job Creator" thing is absolute pure unadulterated BS and No Trickel down, supply side economics does NOT work and it NEVER HAS!
If it did them perhaps you can explain to me why the recession has gone on for this long and why the business Supermen didn't come to the rescue a long time ago...
Could it be because THEY are the ones who got us into this mess?
Bull, the Republicans ARE "the party of Free Stuff"
That's why Boehner can't come up with any specific proposals for cutting spending: Anything more than a symbolic whack at Sandra Fluke or Big Bird will go right to the bone on his base.
To Shooter ...
Point #1: One can't say the electorate prefers bribery, though it does.
One can, but only if one is referring to Red states, whose reliance on government entitlement dollars significantly outpaces that in Blue states.
Then again, I'm an employed (non-governmental) home-owner who pays state & federal taxes and who receives no government benefits who voted for President Obama.
What did he bribe me with exactly?
Point #2: One can't say big deficits are bad for the country, because there is no discernible connection to unemployment. After all, if individuals spend more they get more stuff. But this time it's free.
One can, but only if one accurately places the blame for said "big deficits" where they belong ~ at the foot of George W. Bush & a Republican Congress who supported two unfunded wars and three unfunded tax cuts while delivering the most anemic private sector job creation since Herbert Hoover.
In contrast, President Obama has a better record of private sector job creation during his presidency than his Republican predecessor (despite being handed a worldwide recession) and has presided over a reduction of government payrolls.
In fact,
Point #3: One can't say people need to struggle to succeed, that's being mean/racist/inhumane.
One can, if one is President Barack Obama:
Point #4: One can't point out how free stuff debilitates.
One can, if one is emphasizing the fact that tax cuts for the wealthy do not create jobs, thereby debilitating our national treasury while adding nothing to our national economy.
If one, however, is referring to social security benefits for the elderly and the disabled, unemployment benefits for the jobless, and veterans' benefits for those who dedicated their lives to national service ~ all of whom are members of the 47% Mitt Romney despises ~ you are correct. One can't point that out.
Point #5: One can't easily illustrate that the economy requires profits to run, people apparently think elves really make cookies, and that stuff they need and want magically appears by "demand".
One can, and he goes by Big Dog.
Point #6: So... I got nothing.
And on that point, you get no argument.
I'm going to focus on this statement as symptomatic of why demand doesn't drive the economy....
Even in this version of the economy, nothing happens until a business arrives. You can demand until the cows come home, but nothing happens until someone else decides he can make money doing something about it. You people seem to assume business is a given. It isn't. Most fail quickly.
Consider Sudan. It has demand for everything under the sun. Why doesn't stuff magically appear there?
What about the consumers? Where did they get their money? Most get it from working. What does that require? A business. No business, no job, no money, nothing to buy.
Any questions?
Yes, the workers are paid by the largesse of the owner. The owner decides who works, how much they get paid, or even whether Americans are hired. No business owner, no jobs. Which part of that are you all not understanding?
Actually I agree with that. Clinton rates didn't inhibit the market bubble or the internet revolution. Bush rates didn't forestall the financial crisis. Rates by themselves are not the sole determinent for quality of an economy. The historical context the rates exist in is. For example...
We had also just won a war for our freedom, bombed our competitors into the ground, and built a huge manufacturing base of our own. Let's also not forget the shelters, deductions, and loopholes available then either. Context my friends, context.
Where do people get their money? From successful business owners. Trickle down.
Yes profits are high, and yes, people are being hired. Just not in the US.
No it isn't. It's psychology. Specifically the psychology of what a person/business/nation will do with a dollar in any given situation. Why do you think economists are usually wrong? Human beings are unpredictable.
Trickle down? Or tax cuts? I can offer you a graph demonstrating how the Bush cuts boosted employment. As you can see the tax cuts going into effect in 2003 really pumped up employment. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/TUw6hMzI7OI/AAAAAAAAKdo/Lv53LLi50Cs/s1600/nonfarm-payroll-2011-01A.png
Do you know the difference between a regular recession and a balance sheet recession? People are hoarding. Saving, paying bills, getting out from under large debt, even as their major asset is falling in value. Add the Obama anti-business atmosphere, and how much easier it is to make money outside the US, and business starts hoarding too.
Obama voters come in two flavors, those that want free stuff, and those that want to give it to them. You would likely fall in the latter category.
Obama has racked up more debt than Bush in half the time. Why aren't you blaming him?
"Obama has racked up more debt than Bush in half the time. Why aren't you blaming him?"
Because most of that debt was already baked in the cake by Bush's wars and tax cuts and by the Great Recession that cut revenue. But you knew that. You just don't want to admit it.
The first rule of politics that all politicians follow is:
"Survive to be reelected." Rinse and repeat.
The Republicans are stuck with the ball and chain that are their long-standing ground troops, the Dominionist Evangelical Christians, and the more recently unearthed zombies, the Bircher Teabagger, bases.
And they don't dare turn their backs on them, or else they'll be primaried, and that's the first step to getting reelected - being your parties candidate in whatever race you're in.
Republicans: Meet the rock, the hard place, the Devil, and the deep blue sea (ironic, that...).
We may have won the battle, the presidency, but it seems we are loosing the war.
Note Michigan and Wisconsin. We allowed the take over of state governments by the Republicans. 2014 we have to focus on clearing them out of our statehouses.
Unions, get your act together! You have so much to offer the American worker.
You do realise that gerrymandering applies to state legislatures and their districting, too? It's going to be tough to root them out of their safe seats until 2022. If you want to clean up your State's government, one of the most important things you can do is change the Constitution to require independent redistricting boards.
Aside: Being an engineer, I tend to think of politics as a control system for governance. And my biggest gripe with gerrymandering is that it introduces hysteresis into the control system -- and that makes for instability and lack of fine-grained feedback on the process. Net effect: poor governance.
Sorry 'bout the geeky aside.
It's not only the job of unions to motivate and move people. It's us. Pay attention to local elections, get out the vote for Dems in smaller elections and off years. Put Dems in every where -- do not neglect the school board and town board and the local jodge. Be active. Stay active. If liberals don't do this, we will win the battle but lose the war. What's happening in Michigan (and Wisconsin before that, and the South before that) should be a wakeup call. If you dislike extreme Republican policies, do not expect them to disappear or fade away. They seem to have every intention of ramming their plans through, against the will of the people.
What do unions have to offer besides making people pay huge dues to pay their leaders a great salary and to make the cost of goods go up. They negotiate unreasonable things. Perhaps those things are nice when businesses and schools etc are rolling in dough, but those times are gone. Prime example of how unions cost business and taxpayers for no necessary reason.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/union_classic_le_en_jrQKCmKdjWQbMAtzqHASxI
I see that you don't really understand unions and their protections of the regular folks...You are putting money before people and that is wrong..
jess33, I found a site for you that doesn't seem to be wrapped around a biased axel. It lists the benefits of unions.
This isn't to prove you wrong, it's to provide you with more information on the topic than you seem to currently possess.
Of course, the best way to keep an affixed opinion is not to injest any information counter to it.
Thanks Coffee, You just posted a link that shows why manufacturing went to China. Now if you can find one that shows how higher taxes helps workers then you will have shown the whole story about why we can't compete in a global economy.
Jes33, Here's what my Union offered and did for me. I was in the USMC 82-90, When I got out I tried for law Enforcment, But waiting to get in somewhere I would have starved!! So in my Pursuit of Various Carrer's No experience or I noticed that alot of the Job's offered nothing as for health, or something for retirement. So I applied for Various APPRENTICESHIP'S, I was accepted into the Cement Mason's, I completed 3 years of schooling, On the Job training with Pay, I worked enough hours to qualify for Health Ins. and I will have something for when I can retire. Now then, NO one else was willing to give a Veteran a chance. On the Job training with Pay? Who does that anymore? Health Ins. When I was single, I didn't care about that, But being married and having a son, Very Important, My Wife had her Knee Replaced, I've had a few Surgeries, I didn't get wiped out Financially, If my Son chooses College, I have Money to Help Him. Pension, I have one and at least I can Plan for When my Wife and I retire. Jes33 Do you see what I have recieved? I also recieve Update Training in My line of Work, OSHA,CPR, Work specific Updates, My dues go to That, Have to Pay for a Certified Instr. to come in and give Classes. So I have a Skill, Health Ins, Pension, I am able to do thing's because I earn a Livable Wage. So don't bash me for having enough sense to Work for a better Life and to plan for my Future, Instead of being in a Job that requires me to be on Welfare just to survive as what is experienced by many, that BTW some of you actually have no problem with that occuring, That is unreal.
Inspector,
So sweatshops and dirt-low wages are the way to go then?
Exactly what is it we're competing for, consumerism or human dignity? Yes, China makes cheaper crap and their workers stay on the job longer and accept lower pay. And?
I like having a nice home. I like having medical benefits. I like being able to go out to dinner with the rest of America. You don't? Your kids won't?
So as corporations charge more and more for their services and goods...DO tell me what exactly will get cheaper when unions are killed...and workers, unable to organize get less and less benefits, wages, and even safety (remember mines?) who loses? China?
Unions aren't the problem. Greedy bottom line watchers are the problem. When is the last time Big Oil anywhere gave the world a price break rather than buy one more gold toilet or another yacht?
Unions aren't for global trade, they are for local workers.
This is a clear indicater of whats what.This reflects the Presidents responce and actions to Sandy. Is anyone calling for investigations hearings anything? No and you won't because He Did His JOB! And bless Gov. Cris he did his JOB in concert with the President. No politics no B.S. and as we know the JOB is far from finished but nobody has stopped working on it and it will get done.These people who fall back on their ideologys as valid reasons for not doing the jobs that are in front of them are enemys of this country. Thats right I said it, enemys. They are as detrimental to this country as any terrorist, perhaps more so.Because they are within the system,they can srew it up worse than any enemy outside the system. They all say America is about work and yet they refuse to do the jobs they are paid to do.
Then by your logic the president is the enemy because he refuses to do his part on the fiscal cliff. He refuses to give any spending cuts that will really make a difference in the deficit. Do you people think the raise in tax rates for the so called rich will stop there? Next it will be 100,000.00 then 80,000.00 then 50,000.00. with no spending cuts. The media got the president elected thruogh misinformation and class warfare. Now they are trying to finish the job of sending the country into socialism. All the hippies from the communes in the 60's are now running the media.
Inspector, Which Media re-elected the President?
Bad question Sarge. I never said that the media elected the President. I said the media got the president elected. Answer: the print media, television media. I also have to comment on your earlier post about unions. I also received a fully funded apprenticeship although it wasn't funded by union dues. I worked for a non union shop as a toolmaker My employer payed for all of my college courses and I made good money while I was at it. Most businesses will fund education of their emplyees. It ends up making the employer and employee more money in the long run. By the way Thank you for your service in the USMC.
Hey Inspector, Well, jes33 asked what I got from being in a Union and I told her. The Apprenticeship Program's have darn near vanished. I say that from watching what My nephews are going through, if they don't have the skill when applying for the Job, No chance. As for the Media issue It ALL stink's, Seriously, nowaday's WE have to look at many sources to get the Truth. And even then We are still scratching are head's wondering. My biggest complaint is I don't judge People simply by what they do for a living, in my case I recieved an oppurtunity and I ran with it, how does that make me a bad Person as some say? Do You judge me for what someone else did many years ago? Guilt by association? That is what get's me really irritated. Did I mention that I'm also a Fireman? Paid on call, So see, I'm not a bad person as other's may suggest. And THANK YOU for acknowledging My time in the USMC.
Hey inspector give up on the socialism chestnut. That stuff is old BS from idiots in the MEDIA NAMELY FOX NEWS AND LAMEBAUGH IT did not fly last year it wont'fly this year and next year you r type will go the way of the horse and buggy!!!!!!!
Actually there is a cliff that the GOP is poised on, it's just that it's not the fiscal one.
they've spent thirty years making their bed. i hope they have to lie in it for a long time.
First it was Republicans Gone Wild with their smutty Tea Partying views on our beloved Constitution!
Now it's simply Republicans Behaving Badly as they can't seem to discern just how unbecoming their political behavior is at this moment in our nation's history! -Kevo
Wow, you've got something there, it's like Reality TV.
Instead of Jersey Shore, we could be watching DC Wars.
Complain all we want, the majority of Congress got re-elected. Most Republicans got re-elected. Blame gerrymandering, etc. Democrats need to manipulate the system to their advantage and get the votes out.
Struggling with public attitudes?
Try putting idealistic religion back in the church and leadership back in government.
Try getting off the backs of Americans who don't look/live/love/earn like you do.
Try supporting America visibly, with actual compassion, even-handedness, and compromise.
Try getting off your knees in front of the people who bankroll your lifestyle and acting like ALL people matter, not just those whose circle you want to run in.
Try treating our President like he's our President, try not treating our government like it's your personal kindergarten, and try treating this nation like it's worth something to you.
Try stopping the cheating and start acting like those 10 Commandments you whine about actually mean something to you. We the People do notice.
This is just for starters...I could continue.
What is really ironic in all of this is that, during the Cold War, the USSR leadership always said that they didn't need a war to destroy the United States. That the USA would destroy itself from within. And that is exactly what the Republicans and Teabaggers are doing. And what is also ironic is that those who will be hurt worst by these people are the very ones who voted them into power.
Karen if you replace "Republicans and teabaggers" with "looters and moochers"
in your post it still works. Just Saying.
If Karensc made those changes, then what she wrote wouldn't be true.
Although I can understand why whether something is true or not wouldn't bother you...
What's the use of reading or contributing to a comment stream if over half the comments -- even those from sane regulars -- are addressed to a well-recognized and simplistic troll? Yes, it gives us a straw man to react to, to make ourselves feel righteous, certain of our convictions. (Our own blue echo-chamber?) There is considerable evidence that almost all of you are articulate and thoughtful. In depending on (sh00tRR) to set up your straw men, you waste time and energy. One might, if one were uncharitable, interpret that activity as intellectually lazy.
There is a very good reason a grad student doesn't defend her thesis before a Sunday School class of 7-year-olds. Think about it.
That's what trollls do: keep you occupied with simplistic ideas and replies (a perverted Call and Response) and distracted away from the truly important and complex issues -- issues for which some of you may have honestly insightful comments and solutions based on actual data and facts.
So there's less and less to read here. I've hidden (sh00tRR)'s comments since weeks before the election, and I glide past commenters who address he/she/it. Soon there will be nothing here for me to read, except for Steve Benen (and Laura and Will et al.) himself.
Sigh.
One of the reasons I tend to address those who may be or are at least playing the part of a troll is that there are those people on the sidelines who are either of a similar breed to the trolls or those who know people like the trolls. Answering the trolls' questions gives answers to people who need them, basically.
It helps us keep us honest?