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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Benny B on December 15, 2010, 03:58:00 PM
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* December 15, 2010, 1:00 PM ET
WSJ/NBC Poll Shows Solid Support for Tax Package
By Jonathan Weisman and Danny Yadron
The tax compromise that passed the Senate this afternoon maintains solid support across the ideological spectrum, despite strenuous attacks from liberal activists and some conservative leaders, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building Wednesday. (Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images)
The poll found that 59% approve of the agreement, against 36% that disapprove, and those numbers are relatively consistent across party lines. The poll of 1,000 adults conducted between Dec. 9 and 13 has a 3.1 percentage point margin of error. Among Democrats, 54% approve of the deal, while 68% of Republicans and 60% of independents do. Fifty-seven percent of self-described liberals like the compromise; 60% of conservatives do.
The finding could be a boon to President Barack Obama, who defied many in his party to cut the deal with Senate Republican leaders. It also suggests the activists in both parties are not speaking to the bulk of their parties. Two potential Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have come out strongly against the deal, while an array of elected Democrats have castigated it as a giveaway to the rich. The measure passed the Senate 81-19 and now moves to the House.
(For the full poll results, check back with WSJ.com at 6:30 p.m.)
“I don’t know if he has any other choice” but to compromise, Rita Antebi, 81 years old, a lifelong Democrat and retired kindergarten teacher from South Brunswick, N.J., said of the president. “He’s doing what he can before we get a Republican government.”
The tax legislation extends all of President George W. Bush’s income tax and investment tax cuts for two years, including tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000. It also extends unemployment insurance for 13 months, cuts the payroll tax for almost all workers, and maintains a bevy of tax cuts for the working poor that were in last year’s stimulus law.
Among those polled, 61% called that mix a fair compromise on both sides. Twenty-three percent said Mr. Obama gave up too much, while 10% said GOP leaders did.
But the discontent within the parties is substantial. Forty percent of liberal Democrats say the president sacrificed too much to get the deal, while 20% of Republicans saw their side giving up too much.
“I don’t like to see one group give up a lot of their ideals just because they want to push something through,” said Steve Wilson, 48, in reference to the Obama-McConnell tax deal. Mr. Wilson, of Lakewood, Colo., has been unemployed for more than eight months, he said. He used to be a service repairman for computerized embroidery equipment. “I want to see concessions on both sides.”
Democratic leaders have been particularly incensed by the deal struck on the estate tax, which lapsed this year but would be set for 2011 and 2012 at 35% on the value of estates over $5 million. Some modest estate planning by couples would shield from taxation estates valued up to $10 million.
Republican opponents have zeroed in on the 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, which they say should be paid for by equal spending cuts. Some, such as Mr. Romney, have said the routine extensions of such benefits are discouraging some Americans from seeking work.
But the bulk of the public is behind the compromisers.
Arthur Bullock, 53, who sells office equipment just outside of Washington in Silver Spring, Md., said November’s historic electoral loss has made Mr. Obama go “outside the box and go outside the Democratic line.”
“I know you can’t please everyone all the time,” Mr. Bullock said. “But you’ve got to find that middle ground. Great presidents do that.”
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* December 15, 2010, 5:00 PM ET
WSJ/NBC Poll: Obama in Lead for 2012
President Barack Obama, should he choose to run for re-election, enters the 2012 presidential cycle in relatively good shape, especially considering the string of bad news that has buffeted his presidency.
(http://online.wsj.com/media/Obama_BlairHouse_D_20101215154105.jpg)
President Barack Obama walks back to the White House iafter meeting Wednesday with business leaders at Blair House.(Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
According to the WSJ/NBC News poll out later today, only 42% said they’d probably vote for the president if he runs again; 39% said they’d probably vote for a Republican.
But putting a name beside the generic Republican slot changes the picture. Mr. Obama leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by seven percentage points, 47%-40%. Against Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a relative unknown but a potential candidate, the president maintains his 47% but leads by 20 points.
On the other hand, Mr. Obama leads former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by 22 points, 55% to 33%, an indication that the former Republican vice presidential nominee remains a polarizing figure who actually wins support for Mr. Obama.
The poll, conducted by the polling organizations of Peter D. Hart and Bill McInturff, has a 3.1 percentage point margin of error. For the full poll results, check back with WSJ.com at 6:30 p.m.
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Poll: Female Obama "Drop-off" Voters Likely To Return In 2012
From NBC's Ali Weinberg
A new poll from political action group EMILY’s List found that women who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but not for their 2010 Democratic congressional candidate are likely to vote for Obama in 2012.
Since the 1980’s, it’s been “an iron law that Democrats only win when they win with women,” said Geoff Garin, the president of Democratic polling firm Hart Research Associates which conducted the poll. He added that while that did not happen in 2010, evidence suggested that women who either defected to a Republican candidate or didn’t vote at all would make their way back to the Democratic fold by 2012.
The group canvassed 608 women who voted for Obama for president, but either voted Republican, or did not vote at all, in the 2010 midterm elections. About six in ten of the women chose not to vote in the midterms, and three in ten voted for the Republican congressional candidate.
Of those groups, however, a majority – 62% - said they would prefer to re-elect President Obama than vote for a Republican candidate (23%). Fifteen percent said they were not sure yet who to support. Obama’s approval ratings were even higher, averaging at 71% among women who voted Republican or did not vote at all.
The economy was the chief motivating factor for most of the 2008 “drop-offs.” Among women who voted Republican, 77% said they were compelled by the state of the economy to vote. Women who did not go to the polls actually said they support Obama and the Democratic Congress on a whole (77% and 52%, respectively), but a majority also said their inactivity was driven by the economic doldrums.
Garin said that the suggested swing back towards Obama in 2012 indicated that women were more inclined to make a statement against unfavorable conditions (in this case, the economy), but in the 2012 presidential election, the stakes would be too high to vote any other way than for a Democratic president they still support overall.
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CNN Poll: Three-quarters say ratify START treaty
By: CNN Political Unit
Washington (CNN) - Nearly three out of four Americans say lawmakers should ratify a nuclear treaty with Russia that's stalled in the Senate, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 73 percent of the public says the U.S. should vote in favor of a recently signed treaty between President Barack Obama and Russia that would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in each country, with 23 percent saying the accord should not be ratified by the Senate.
"There are some partisan differences, but majorities in all major demographic groups support the treaty," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Nearly six in ten Republicans think the Senate should ratify the treaty. Among Democrats, that figure rises to 87 percent."
The survey's release comes on the same day that a key Republican senator deflated the Obama administration's chances of passing the START treaty. Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who is taking the lead for Republicans on negotiating with the administration on the treaty's ratification, said that the accord should not be considered before January, when the newly elected Congress is seated.
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The support for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, in the United States is broad and deep. It has overwhelming bipartisan support from a who’s who of former high-level foreign policy officials. It has the unanimous support of the top brass of the U.S. military. It has the backing of the directors of the nuclear weapons laboratories. More than 80 percent of the American people support ratification of New START.
A who’s who of former high level foreign policy officials from both parties support the treaty.
* Six former secretaries of state: Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, George Shultz, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger
* Five former secretaries of defense: James R. Schlesinger, William J. Perry, Harold Brown, Frank Carlucci, and William Cohen
* Five former national security advisors: Henry Kissinger, Colin L. Powell, Samuel Berger, Brent Scowcroft, and James L. Jones
* No former secretaries of state or defense, or former national security advisors oppose the treaty.
The New START agreement boasts the unanimous backing of the top brass of the U.S. military.
* Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Vice Chairman General James Cartwright; and the heads of each branch of the military and the commander of U.S. Strategic Command all support New START.
* General Patrick O’Reilly, the head of the Missile Defense Agency, supports New START and says it “reduces the constraints” on U.S. missile defense.
* Eight U.S. strategic commanders support New START: General Larry Welch, General John Chain, General Lee Butler, Admiral Henry Chiles, General Eugene Habiger, Admiral James Ellis, General Bennie Davis, and General Kevin P. Chilton.
* No former U.S. strategic commanders oppose New START. • Retired Adm. William J. "Fox" Fallon, who was head of Central Command and Pacific Command: “this is an absolute no-brainer."
* Retired Lt. Gen. Dirk Jameson, the former deputy commander of U.S. nuclear forces: "[It is] quite puzzling to me why all of this support [for New START] … is ignored. I don't know what that says about the trust that people have and the confidence they have in our military."
Nuclear lab directors back New START.
* The directors of three national nuclear labs—Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia—wrote a letter on December 1, saying they were “very pleased” with the Obama administration’s plan for modernizing the nuclear complex and that they believed the United States could lower its strategic forces to 1,550 under the New START treaty.
* Tom D’Agostino, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, wrote, “Both the New START treaty and modernization are in the national security interest. The Senate should approve both.”
* Linton Brooks, the former head of the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Bush administration, said he would have “killed for” Obama’s nuclear budget and he urged ratification of the New START treaty.
The American people overwhelmingly support New START.
* CBS News Poll: 82 percent of Americans said they support the New START treaty.
* CNN Poll: 73 percent of Americans believe that the United States should ratify the treaty.
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BUMP
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whats rasmussen say?
commy papers lie nonstop
heck nbc probably had dems gaining 10 seats last election
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whats rasmussen say?
commy papers lie nonstop
heck nbc probably had dems gaining 10 seats last election
The Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal is a "commy paper" full of lies? :o
Is rasmussen the only legit polling source for you, "magicuser?" Why don't you put up their most recent polling data on some of the same issues?