Quinnipiac Poll: Dems Up by 11 Points

By: Lowell
Published On: 12/6/2005 2:00:00 AM

Sure, it's still early to be thinking of November 2006.  And sure, a lot can change in the next 11 months.  But for now, I'd much rather be a Democrat than a Republican candidate for office.  According to a new Quinnipiac Poll, Americans prefer - by an 11-point margin, 47%-36% - that Democrats take control of Congress next November.  Among Democrats, it's 91%-5%, and among Republicans it's 6%-85% in the other direction.  The key number, though, is that Independents prefer Democratic control of Congress by an 18-point margin, 46%-28%.  Wow.

A couple more interesting points from this poll:

1) President Bush is a big liability for Republicans, certainly not an asset outside "the base."  According to the Q-Poll, if a candidate supports President Bush, 16% say it would make them more likely to vote for that candidate, while 37% say it would make them LESS likely.  Among Independents, just 7% say supporting Bush would make them "more likely" to vote for a candidate, while 39% say "less likely."  That's not good for Republicans, obviously.

2) The two big issues are Iraq and the economy, and on both of these people are NOT happy with President Bush. On Iraq, only 36% approve of Bush's handling of the situation, while 60% disapprove.  And in general, just 39% are "satisfied" with the country's direction, while 59% say they are "dissatisfied."

In other words, if the election were held today, Republicans would be in deep, DEEP trouble.  So what's going to change that in Republicans' favor during the next 11 months?  It's hard to see, especially considering that we haven't even started hearing Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon start to squeal.  And does anyone think Iraq will be sunshine and flowers by next November?  If so, please contact me, because boy do I have a great deal for you!  Heh.

Comments



We are already seein (Teddy - 4/4/2006 11:27:49 PM)
We are already seeing the Republican "noise machine" start revving up to convince us Iraq is a success and the economy is, too. Don't misunderestimate the effectiveness of 'publican public relations.

Even so, the Bushies may have a little problem with timing the crest of their public relations wave, inasmuch as our November elections may be far enough away that the bounce from Iraqi elections will have faded away into outright civil war, which could turn out to be a little hard to disguise and spin out of existence; and the results of Iraqi and Egyptian elections will have had time to sink in: the despised Anti-American right-wing Islamic fundamentalists won, and are now messing things up their way instead of George W.'s way... how dare they, democracy in action!

As for a Democratic stance on Irq and the war, I believe the Democrats need to go after the entire premise of the war, and even the "war on terrorism," which is a forever war as Bush has cast it, and, in my opinion, a foolish geopolitical mistake, especially the way he is fighting it. The whole thing is strategically a mistake, and a possibly fatal misuse of the state's military power. In other words, we're fighting the wrong war the wrong way. Since we are where we are, and we need to extricate ourselves (and start over as it were), the Democrats need not just an "exit strategy" but a new geopolitical paradime and then kick Republican ass over the entire Bush vision--- which, as Bush has enunciated it, is basically Mission Impossible



John: I couldn't ag (Lowell - 4/4/2006 11:27:49 PM)
John:  I couldn't agree more with your second point in particular.  Democrats need to be forceful and convey a atrong, Teddy Roosevelt/JFK/RFK Progressive message.  If they do that conisistently, they'll win.  Period.  If they don't, then they're at the mercy of Republican scandals and of events outside their control in general...