Welcome back C, Complaint Department Manager agreed to do a guest post for me! Thanks C!
As much as I hate polls, Sue doesn’t. In fact she rather enjoyed seeing this one in a story from Yahoo! News. I’ll get to that in a minute. Right now, I want to address something that I have been saying since the recent election. The results of that election will bring gridlock. I think so, and apparently this news story backs me up on that very theory. I’ve been saying something to the effect that everyone just needs to be patient as this election will only turn around and bite these dumb fucks on the ass(the one sitting squarely on their shoulders, of course).
A bit of a side note:
You have to understand that these people (ROOKIES) were sent to Capitol Hill to “change” it. Unfortunately, they will be met with self-interested parties ON BOTH SIDES of the aisle that will correct their misguided course. We’ve already seen this happen with Rand Paul and his reversal on Earmarks. Trust me folks, this will only continue to get worse. Like I said on a few posts, “Fasten your seat belts, this ride hasn’t even left the station, yet”.
Now, back to the story posted today by Yahoo! News.
So will things improve after the "shellacking" that voters gave to Democrats in handing control of the House over to the Republicans?
Few Americans appear to be counting on it. In a new ABC News/Yahoo! News poll, most say they have little expectation that things will get better as a result of the recent midterms. Respondents were asked if they thought the election was more likely to move the country in the right direction or the wrong direction. The largest chunk of respondents, some 40 percent, said they didn't expect the election to make a difference at all. Only one-third of those polled, 34 percent thought the results would move the country in the right direction, while another 21 percent said they thought things were headed the wrong way.
An even more telling sign: a whopping 81 percent thought that gridlock — in which the two political parties cannot agree and thus don't pass any meaningful legislation — is likely to occur in the two years leading up to the next presidential election.
If the three weeks since the election are any guide, they look to be dead right.
"The idea that there will be any kind of bipartisan cooperation is naïve," says Greg Valliere, chief political strategist for Potomac Research Group. "Both parties are purging moderates who have had the temerity to compromise; we've never seen such a vacuum in the center."
Already, Republican congressional leaders have very publicly avoided setting a date to meet with President Obama in the White House. They've also refused to back the START nuclear-arms-control treaty with Russia, despite support from prominent Republicans such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The moves, says Valliere, were widely seen as signs that GOP leaders are unwilling to agree to any deals that might potentially help Obama.
But two can play that game, and the Democrats are jumping in as well. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he'll soon schedule several votes on what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts for middle-class and wealthy taxpayers, though they have no chance of passing. Instead, they appear designed to put Republicans on the spot and create fodder for campaign ads that can be used to bash them come 2012.
If gridlock is the order of the day, however, Americans are far less in agreement over whether that's good or bad. By large majorities, registered voters who are Democrats or independents tend to see it in a negative light: some 67 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents say that they believe gridlock is a bad thing, as it will keep good legislation from being passed.
By contrast, a hefty share of Republican registered voters have a positive view of gridlock. Some 43 percent of GOP respondents said they thought gridlock was a good thing, because it means bad legislation fails. That's roughly the same number of Republican registered voters, at 42 percent, who think that gridlock is bad.
What accounts for the difference? Republican and Democratic strategists alike say it's a reflection of the deep unhappiness many Republicans have felt about where the country is headed under Obama — and their willingness to do whatever it takes to reverse course.
For more, read here
For stats fans:
Keep in mind, I didn’t find the level of confidence here. As the sample taken was from 1,048 adults using the random digit dialing method with a 4 point margin of error. I personally would like to have seen a larger sample, but don’t all stats people say that?
