Cross-posted at WinningProgressive
A new poll from Newsweek that came out on Friday holds a lot of good news for the Democrats:
- Among people who say they “definitely” are going to vote in the Congressional elections in November, Democrats lead 50% to 42%
- Among all registered voters, Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot 48% to 43%
The Newsweek poll also holds good news for Democrats in that voters trust them more than Republicans on virtually every issue. As Newsweek describes:
Simply put, in the NEWSWEEK Poll, voters said they trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle pretty much every problem currently facing the country: Afghanistan (by 6 points), health care (by 12), immigration (by 2, though that figure is within the margin of error), Social Security (by 14), unemployment (by 12), financial reform (by 14), energy (by 19), and education (by 19). Voters even prefer Democrats to Republicans on federal spending (by 4 points), taxes (by 5), and the economy (by 10)–the GOP’s core concerns. The only area where Republicans outpoll Democrats is the issue of terrorism, where they lead by a 6-point margin.
Other good news in the poll includes that voters who are dissatisfied with the direction of the country are more likely to blame President Bush a lot (39%), rather than President Obama (33%). Given that Republicans are offering little more than warmed over Bush Administration policies in this election, those numbers do not bode well for the GOP. In addition, 62% of voters are not angry at their Congressperson and 60% are not angry at the Senator.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll from last week similarly showed better numbers for Democrats than Republicans:
- Only 8% of voters had a very positive view of the Republican party, with 23% having a somewhat positive view, giving the Republicans a 31% overall favorability rating.
- The billionaire-backed tea party had a favorability rating of only 30%.
- President Obama has a very positive rating of 29% and a somewhat positive rating of 18%, for an overall favorability rating of 47%.
- The Democratic party as a whole had a favorability rating of 37%.
- As for the economic problems facing our country, 56% of voters felt that President Obama inherited from George W. Bush the economic problems facing our nation while only 32% blamed President Obama’s policies.
In short, contrary to the spin of the conservative media, the polling data shows that President Obama is far more popular than the Republican party, that the American people trust Democrats far more than Republicans on the issues, and that Democrats are competitive and even leading the generic polling for the upcoming elections in November.
Now we just need to make sure these positive polling numbers turn into electoral results at the polls in November. If you’d like to help out, click here to find your local Democratic candidate to volunteer for, talk to our families, friends, and neighbors, and write letters to the editor of your local newspaper explaining why you want to continue the Democratic majorities that are moving our country ahead, rather than handing the car keys back to the Republicans who drove our economy into a ditch.