Political Hotsheet
CBS
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
This poll was conducted by telephone on August 2-3, 2011 among 960 adults nationwide who were first interviewed in two polls: a CBS News/New York Times Poll conducted June 24-28, 2011 and a CBS News Poll conducted July 15-17, 2011. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. © 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Poll: Americans divided on debt limit deal
CBS
Americans are divided on Congress' last-minute deal to raise the debt ceiling, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows.
According to the survey, conducted within days of Congress' passage of a controversial bill to increase the nation's borrowing limit, 46 percent of Americans said they approved of the deal. Forty-five percent disapproved of the agreement, which was brokered in frantic negotiations with little more than a day before the White House's August 2 deadline for action.
There was not a lot of enthusiasm even among those who approved of the deal: Only 4 percent did so "strongly." Ninteen percent, meanwhile, strongly disapproved of the deal.
Poll: Disapproval of Congress hits all-time highDemocrats, Republicans and independents are all mixed on the legislation, which is projected to cut nearly $2.5 trillion in government spending over the next ten years: 44 percent of Democrats, 41 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans oppose it. Fifty-six percent Tea Party backers disapprove.
Many Republicans - along with many independents - don't think the legislation went far enough in cutting spending. Six in ten Republicans wanted more cuts, as did almost half (46 percent) of independents. Tea Party supporters, in particular, were dissatisfied with the level of spending cuts.
Democrats were more mixed: 26 percent felt the spending reductions went too far, 28 percent thought they did not go far enough, and 37 percent thought they were about right.
One in two Americans said they had hoped to see tax increases accompany spending cuts as part of the agreement, while 44 percent opposed their inclusion. Revenue increases were excluded from the immediate phase of the debt deal, but a mandatory second round of cuts could include tax increases, depending on the political will of a 12-person congressional "super committee" tasked determining further reductions.
Overall, Americans voiced a mixture of relief and frustration at the outcome of the debate. Forty-four percent of voters said they were largely relieved a deal was ultimately reached, while 45 percent said they felt mostly frustrated by the results.
Most Tea Party supporters were dissatisfied with the results of the fight. Fifty-six percent disapprove of the agreement, and 63 percent are more frustrated than relieved with the outcome. Seventy-three percent do not think the spending cuts went far enough.
The bitter nature of the negotiations, and the Tea Party's visible role in them, seems to have taken its toll on the popularity of the movement. Tea Party-favoring House lawmakers in particular fought vehemently for deep spending cuts - and were accused by some of taking the debate "hostage."
According to the poll, more Americans view the Tea Party unfavorably than ever before: The percentage of Americans that views the Tea Party movement favorably has dropped six points to 20 percent since April, while the number of people who view the Tea Party unfavorably has jumped to 40 percent, up 11 percent from April.
Among Republicans, the drop in favorability is steeper: Favorable views of the Tea Party have dropped 18 points since April, to 41 percent.
Many Americans also think the Tea Party has an outsized influence on the Republican party: 43 percent believe the Tea Party has too much of an influence on the GOP, up from 27 percent who thought the same in April. Among Republicans, that figure has risen from just nine percent to 22 percent in the same timeframe.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement has dropped to 18 percent. This number was at 31 percent immediately following the 2010 midterm elections.
Of those who do identify themselves as Tea Party supporters, 51 percent approve of the job House Speaker John Boehner is doing. They are evenly split on how the Republicans handled the debt-ceiling negotiations: 48 percent approve, and 48 percent disapprove. Seventy-two percent, meanwhile, blamed the debt limit standoff on President Obama and the Democrats.
Overall, Americans think the prolonged debt ceiling negotiations have tarnished the United States' image in the world. Seventy-one percent think they have made the image of America worse.
And there's no consensus on whether or not the deal to raise the debt ceiling will actually help the economy: 46 percent of Americans think it will have no impact at all; the rest are divided on how it will affect an economy that most believe to be in poor condition.
Regardless, the debate captured America's attention: 85 percent said they followed it at least somewhat closely.
This poll was conducted by telephone on August 2-3, 2011 among 960 adults nationwide who were first interviewed in two polls: a CBS News/New York Times Poll conducted June 24-28, 2011 and a CBS News Poll conducted July 15-17, 2011. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
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What would be good, for a start would be a team of Time and Motion engineers looking at all the layers of government!
When we have such a lot of Crats with their tons of paperwork, being paid only to look at what color their fellow citizens are, or what they worship, or whether they have "partners", what their sexual preferences are, whether they smoke, eat rich foods, drink alcohol or work on as farm .......!
WHY does government need the information they collect?
WHY does Government OWN SO MUCH LAND IN THE USA???
WHY DO WE NEED the Patriot Act bureaucrats with their anti American attacks on the freedoms of citizens??
There are as you know LOTS of similar Programs.
Perhaps we need to CUT them all to size.
Perhaps we need to limit politicians in what THEY are entitled to, for if citizens don`t have healthcare when their job stops, why should Politicos have HC for life???
I am sure that much of the budgets, Federal and State, can be accepted as necessary, but when we have perhaps 3 govt jobs to every 1 productive private industry job, we have to start asking the RIGHT questions.
As for the deficit! Hell, the media are a one story wonder, with small concentration, we have had deficits before...but we never had a downgrading like S&P before.
But remember, when attacking something as hard to pin down as govt., you need someone with NO TIES to govt, and not beholden to govt.
Getting the country right will take more than political parties paying $Trillions for the White House next time.
USA Needs a new start. For the sake of the PEOPLE, not the politicians or their hangers-on.
Make the right decision in 2012!!
"It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options... Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues."
S&P reply to GOP for refusing to raise revenue!
Never Trust Carl who is 4 Tea party, as well as some others like him illuminate their narcissism. Even when it is put out in plain black and white written English they turn a Koch eye to everything that is not acceptable to their ideologies.
Simple observation of who is the party of NO, NO, NAY identify the culprits. Not one job have they mustered forth. Yet how many have they NAY, NAY, NO down from materializing.
S&P have a tad more experience then these individuals that continue to expose the failings of the GOP in these matters. Simple economics shows that spending cuts only in this scenario we are in now, will prove disastrous. Investors around the world recognize this as well. GOP's obstructionist political ideology is a demonstration of a failure of leadership at this time. Indicating or implying an agenda that is not in the best interest of our nation.
Next they will take FAA hostage and hold for ransom for granny to pay for their geotactic failures.
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they've tried everything else." Winston Churchill.
Some of these Americans; well as Bill Maher would say;...
http://youtu.be/fys3MsKMpms "OR" as Noam Chomsky would explain why the elitist is not democracy [republican}
http://youtu.be/2Ux8Q3XC98U "OR" Ron Paul's thoughts on republicans failures.
http://youtu.be/3VPz7TYNM-A
A real shame how the media game of blaming all on Tea Party citizens is being repeated as if true!!
As I recollect, at MID TERMS....remember THEM...the citizens who were so angry with our "representatives" dealt with the ones THEY thought were at fault by kicking out the culprits!!Sure look to me as if the chumps on the Hill didn`t get the message!!
THAT is what is known as the "Will of the People" Too many correspondents are too willing to ignore and blame citizens today, for what is the FAULT OF POLITICIANS!!
So, every media outlet and political arena that blames the "T PARTY" for the mess the Washinton "elite" made, (theres a misnomer if ever there was one), including too the lobbyists and media, but quietly and determinedly IGNORING the citizen/voter, is totally missing the point, whilst ignoring their responsibilities as hired hands to their Bosses...the citizens.
For Washington was never set up to be a jobscreation program, but there it is....decent people come to Eashington to serve, then get sucked into the morass that is politics these days!
God help us if a reckoning isn`t forthcoming in 2012!!
RHINOs and Democrats need not apply.
Demand them to bring jobs back!
demand the truth !
demand a fair wage!
demand that they stop this greedy corruption!
demand they stop making deals behind close doors !
demand they ease this police state we live in ! we got bin
i could go on and on
When you look at the details......the Dems came out great. They just CLAIM they gave up too much. (More lies and deceit.)
The GOP CLAIMS they cut spending.......but the truth is, they gave too much, they only cut the GROWTH in future spending, and not real spending. In addition, they gave Obama 2.4 trillion more dollars, to SQUANDER......which he started to do, before he even had the deal signed.
There is no TRUTH in government. On either side of the political spectrum.
That's precisely why no one has anything specific to say about jobs.....they are both sitting back and waiting for Corporate America to act, and Corporate America has sent all of our jobs off shore......for increased profit.....forever. Without manufacturing....we are dead in the water, without a paddle. Pure and simple.
In my opinion you are "entiltled" when you earn your own living.
Like millions of citizens, I went through school, got a job, raised a family with the angel I married, made sure the kids knew right from wrong, and paid for the house we own by my own efforts.
Bounced back after lay offs, and made enough to retire on.
It sickens me to see a country with BUMS of all descriptions just settin their with their HANDS OUT to uncle Sam....ie...to people like US!!
The country is in a mess..yeah!
Hell it was in a mess when Carter was President, but the US saw off the USSR, as it will see off the present troubles.
ONLY TROUBLE IS....Washington!!
Not much point teaching kids about the Republic and Bill of Rights if we have a constant tide of `Crats taking our money to set up unaccountable Programs to give MY money to those who sneak into the country with no intention of putting anything in...I know, lotsa immigrants love the country as much as I do...but HELL those Washinton fools have made things so crazy they all need a good lickin!
Hope 2012 is it!!!
GET BACK TO WASHINGTON AND GET YOUR JOBS DONE!!!
Thank you Mr. President for stepping up yesterday and taking care of business... now, if you can get your loser House and Senate back to work we might be able to show the World we can take care of business in the US. oh... please don't touch my Social Security... due to the last 12 years I have nothing left but that. Thank you.
The Dems lost? No way! The Tea Party did no more, than keep them in check. Bottom line. American welfare has been saved for all those people with their hands out!
...so much for THIS nonsense article!