Americans Trust Obama More on Debt Talks:Voters Fear Debt Deal Will Hurt Medicare

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http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/07/26/americans_trust_obama_more_on_debt_talks.html

A new National Journal Congressional Connection Poll found that Americans "expressed more trust in President Obama than in congressional Republicans to make decisions about both the federal deficit and debt ceiling, but continued to display little urgency about the risk of default if the two sides remain stalemated."

Key findings: 46% said they trust Obama most to "make the right decisions" on the deficit while 34% said they place more faith in congressional Republicans. Regarding the debt ceiling, a virtually identical 46% leaned toward Obama and 35% chose the GOP.

However, Americans "remain divided almost exactly in half on whether they would prefer increasing the debt ceiling at all."


Voters Fear Debt Deal Will Hurt Medicare
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/voters-fear-debt-deal-will-hurt-medicare-20110725

Americans expressed more trust in President Obama than in congressional Republicans to make decisions about both the federal deficit and debt ceiling, but continued to display little urgency about the risk of default if the two sides remain stalemated, a new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll found.

Call it the great disconnect. In Washington and on Wall Street, fears are rising that global financial markets will tumble if the two parties cannot reach an agreement by August 2 to hike the federal debt ceiling. But in the survey, Americans still expressed much more anxiety about other economic challenges—and appeared less concerned that Congress would fail to raise the nation’s borrowing limit than that it would include unacceptable ingredients in any deficit-reduction package accompanying such an increase. Such attitudes may explain why Obama struck such an urgent tone in Monday night’s address.

(snip)
The best news for Obama in the survey is that a solid plurality of Americans expressed more trust in him than in congressional Republicans to make decisions on the intertwined issues of raising the borrowing limit and reducing long-term debt. On the subject of the deficit, 46 percent of respondents said they trust Obama most to “make the right decisions,” while 34 percent said they place more faith in congressional Republicans. Regarding the debt ceiling, a virtually identical 46 percent leaned toward Obama and 35 percent chose the GOP.

(snip)
The most prevalent concern, by far, was a worry from the left: 39 percent said they worried most that Washington would reach “an agreement that cuts too much from government programs like Medicare and Social Security.” Nearly an equal number picked a pair of concerns, in effect, from the right: 19 percent said they worried most about “an agreement that authorizes too much federal spending” and 17 percent said they most feared “an agreement that raises taxes on people like you.”

[Lifelong Protester]

1. 17 percent said they most feared “an agreement that raises taxes on people like you.”

See, that's one of the big problems. Folks, regular folks, think taxes will go up on them. NO WAY does the idea of taxing the rich encompass 17% of any group.

[Fire1]

2. That's part of the problem. Talking to an ignorant electorate.

POTUS, reporters and news contributors give the american public too much credit. 60% of the population doesn't know wtf they're talking about.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Bingo.

And, there's a reason why that's so.