January 14, 2003

THE DEMOCRATS VS. AMERICANS:

ASPIRING AMERICA (Patrick Ruffini, 01.13.03)

Patrick Ruffini, whose Press Secretary I hope to be when he's elected to whatever, has some poll numbers that further suggest that the Democrats are out of step with the country:

A new national survey by Public Opinion Strategies (POS) finds that 61% of American voters back the Bush economic stimulus plan and only 34% oppose it. The poll also found that 55% favor the Democratic plan, with 38% opposing it. Asked to choose between the two plans, voters opt for the Bush plan by a 51%-41% margin over the Congressional Democratic plan.

The Bush stimulus plan is preferred to the Democratic stimulus plan among key swing groups, including by a 53%-36% margin among Independents, 50%-43% among swing voters, 48%-42% among suburban women, and 52%-42% among middle income voters.


Considering that 41% is the absolute floor for Democrat voters in America, this poll is a disaster. They have their base and that's it, despite a uniformly hostile reception to the Bush plan from the media, which the Left will be disappointed to hear they still dominate. The most important effect of such poll numbers is that it turns up the torque on their senators who are facing re-election in '04 in states that President Bush is going to carry. Blanche Lincoln (AR) and Byron Dorgan (ND) would seem to face particularly tough choices between loyalty to Tom Daschle or their own political futures.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2003 9:46 AM
Comments

Although I would love to see an aggressive investment tax credit.

Posted by: David Cohen at January 14, 2003 8:53 AM

Didn't read the article (just saw the headline) but didn't USA Today have an article saying Bush's poll numbers are the lowest since 9-11, indicating that he's losing his power?

Posted by: AWW at January 14, 2003 9:46 AM

Perhaps, though one would merely note that they also dipped in August when he took a whole month off in Crawford too.

Posted by: oj at January 14, 2003 11:42 AM

Ruffini is way too smart to be a politician. He'd probably be better off as a high-level staffer.

Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at January 14, 2003 6:05 PM

Yeah, but then I can't be a high level staffer. Unless we both work on my sister's campaign for Senator from PA (where she's an assistant DA)

Posted by: oj at January 14, 2003 6:31 PM

OJ--Do you mean to tell me you aspire to Ari Fleischer's job? But then you'd have to deal with all the meandering, pointless Helen Thomas questions. Every day. Maybe even before coffee.

Posted by: Buttercup at January 14, 2003 7:04 PM

I live for the chance to obfuscate.

Posted by: oj at January 14, 2003 11:50 PM
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