high expectations for Dems
USA Today - November 14, 2006
Public expects the Democrats to deliver Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Americans are pinning their hopes for the country’s
future on the incoming Democratic Congress and its largely unfamiliar
leaders, the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.
In the poll taken Thursday through Sunday, just after Democrats swept
to majorities in the House and Senate, those surveyed said by nearly
2-to-1 that they want Democrats to have more influence than President
Bush on the direction of the nation. Nearly half said the country
will be better off under Democrats; 16% said it will be worse off;
and one-third predicted no difference.
Bush’s job-approval rating was 33%, tying his second-lowest ever. The
Republican Party was viewed favorably by 35% — an eight-year low.
Democrats had a 57% favorable rating, their highest since January
2004 and 4 percentage points higher than the 53% share that exit
polls indicated the party’s congressional candidates won on Election
Day.
Joel Benenson, a Democratic strategist whose firm worked on several
Senate races, said the poll underscores the message voters sent Bush.
“They expect the Democratic Party to have influence with the
president,” he said. “They want things to get done. They think the
Democrats can help make that happen.”
Wes Anderson, a Republican strategist whose firm handled independent
spending for the GOP Senate campaign committee, said voters fired his
party for incompetence. “The challenge for the Democrats at this
point is living up to the billing,” he said. “The bar is set probably
higher than they want it to be set.”
Democrats appear for now to have buried their image as soft on
security, despite charges by Bush and other Republicans that
terrorists would gain ground if Democrats won majorities. By 63%-33%,
poll respondents said it is not likely Democrats in Congress will
take steps that would weaken national security.
In other expectations, 6 in 10 said it is likely Democrats in
Congress will raise taxes. Half said it’s likely Democrats will make
prescription drugs less expensive and vote to pull all U.S. troops
out of Iraq.
There was skepticism about Democratic pledges to clean up ethics and
cut the budget deficit. About half said it’s unlikely that Democrats
will try to reduce corruption; 58% said deficit reduction is unlikely.
The Democrats set to lead their party on Capitol Hill are relatively
unknown. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, in line to
be speaker, had a 38% favorable rating. The same percentage said they
had never heard of her or had no opinion about her.
More than half said they’d never heard of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., or
had no opinion of him. The future Senate majority leader was viewed
favorably by 27%.
Only 24% in the poll identify themselves as Republicans, down from
31% just before the election. That’s the smallest percentage since
December 1998, when only 20% said they were Republicans. The post-
election dropoff is not unusual for a losing party; self-identified
Democrats fell from 34% to 28% in 1994, when Republicans seized
Congress.
Democrats stayed relatively constant, edging from 34% to 35%.
Independents registered the largest gain, from 32% before the
election to 40% afterward.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who announced his plans to resign
the day after the election and before the poll was taken, shot to a
record 57% unfavorable rating — up 12 points since September.