{"id":2597,"date":"2010-09-07T10:09:01","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T14:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2010-09-08T10:09:25","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T14:09:25","slug":"okay-2010-voters-im-officially-confused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/09\/07\/okay-2010-voters-im-officially-confused\/","title":{"rendered":"Okay, 2010 voters, I’m officially confused."},"content":{"rendered":"

ABC and the Washington Post<\/a> have released a new poll suggesting that Republicans are surging yet again, ahead of the 2010 midterm election.<\/p>\n

Republicans are heading into the final weeks of the midterm campaign with the political climate highly in their favor, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.<\/p>\n

Americans are increasingly frustrated by a lack of economic progress, deeply dissatisfied with the federal government and critical of President Obama’s leadership.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When asked if they would vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate, registered voters said by a 53-40% margin that they preferred the GOP’s alternative.<\/p>\n

A whopping 55% of Americans now want Republicans to control congress.\u00a0 Those are landslide-level numbers, no question.<\/p>\n

But here’s where the political climate gets weird.<\/p>\n

When asked which party they trusted more to handle “main problems the nation faces over the next few years” those same voters chose the Democrats by 40-37% margins.<\/p>\n

When asked which party would best handle improving the economy — the top issue on everyone’s minds — voters again chose Democrats by a 42-40% margin.<\/p>\n

Asked about handling health care, perhaps the most controversial issue of Barack Obama’s first term, people again chose Democrats, by a 44-39% margin.<\/p>\n

Yes, Republicans “won” the poll by similar margins on other issues, including the handling of Afghanistan, immigration, and Federal budget deficits, but not by landslide margins.<\/p>\n

And when asked which political party “represents your own personal values” or “is more concerned with the needs of people like you,” voters again chose Democrats (by 45-42% and 48-39% margins respectively).<\/p>\n

Even Barack Obama comes off looking pretty good in this poll, with 55% of people polled suggesting that he’s either “just about right” or “too conservative.”<\/p>\n

So I’ll admit it:\u00a0 I’m stumped.<\/p>\n

Americans seem hungry for a big change in November, but more than ever before in my years of watching politics, I can’t figure out what exactly it is that they want.<\/p>\n

There is one thing that I think is abundantly clear:<\/p>\n

The GOP’s decision to not put forward a specific platform, but to instead be the party that critiqued, questioned and raised doubts about the Democratic agenda, turned out to be pitch-perfect.<\/p>\n

Democrats assail Republicans for being the “party of No,” but in the end “No” may be the one word that symbolizes the mood of most voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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