Obama Stimulus, Tax Increases Are Losing Democrats Key Support

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I would like to chime in with my TJS colleague, Michael Barone, and offer my opinion on why Democrats are doing worse in generic polls than they were before the November elections:

Last Wednesday, I noted that Republican are now running even or slightly ahead in the generic vote for Congress in two respected national polls. On Friday, Charlie Cook noted the same results. He pointed out that the NPR survey shows independents favoring Republicans 38-24 percent and that Republican pollster Glen Bolger says this is the first time independents have favored Republicans since 2004.

It's the economy! And it's taxes. Democrats are setting themselves up to undo all the good they did for themselves at the polls last November by returning to the "tax and spend liberalism" that got Ronald Reagan elected and turned over four decades of Democratic control of Congress to the Republicans.

The Democrats and President Obama benefited mainly last fall from the public's disgust with the incompetence and dissolute spending of former President Bush. But they have dispensed so much of that goodwill and confidence by spending ridiculous amounts of money on the stimulus package, they have independents running in the opposite direction and even some dedicated Democrats questioning their judgment. If they keep it up, they'll turn off almost all of the people they turned on last November--all except the newly-energized youth vote.

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By Bonnie Erbe