Legal Commentary

Poll: Republicans Not Happy With their Do-Nothing Congress

By Jeralyn

A new Pew Research poll shows voters are increasingly disapproving of Congress. The reason is because Congress, even after the November election, has failed to do anything on the basic issues everyone cares about.

Republicans and the Tea Party promised change, but haven't delivered. So it's not really a surprise that:

Pew surveyed 1,525 adults from March 8-14. The poll's findings suggest the political losers so far have been Republicans, who rode a wave of voter irritation to win control of the House of Representatives last fall.

After the election, 35 percent said Republicans had a better approach to the deficit, expected to reach a record $1.65 trillion this year. This month, that number has plunged to 21 percent.

Patience is wearing thin with the Tea Party: [More...]

The most restless constituency has involved supporters of the conservative tea party movement. After the November election, where backers helped elect dozens of congressional Republicans, three of four movement supporters liked GOP budget plans. This month that figure dropped to 52 percent.

The morning of the November elections, I made some predictions, including this one:

Republicans will make gains in the House and they will crow about it until January, but it will be empty posturing. The radical right won't get any serious legislation passed during the next two years. They'll have greater success at being obstructionist and blocking Democratic proposals, just like they've done the past two years, only on a bigger scale. It will backfire on them in 2012. We'll be in worse shape and the voters will rightfully blame them and boot them out.

I'm glad it's happening even earlier than I expected.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 20, 2011 (boomark / email).