Friday Open Thread [9.28.12]

Filed in Open Thread by on September 28, 2012

“Take this screaming non tax paying pre-voter back please. There seems to be a malfunction.”

Ed Kilgore flags a new Gallup poll indicating that the ‘divided government is good’ meme is losing its appeal with many voters. As Andrew Dugan reports at Gallup politics:

A record-high 38% of Americans prefer that the same party control the presidency and Congress, while a record-low 23% say it would be better if the president and Congress were from different parties and 33% say it doesn’t make any difference. While Americans tend to lean toward one-party government over divided government in presidential election years, this year finds the biggest gap in preferences for the former over the latter and is a major shift in views from one year ago.

These findings are based on Gallup’s annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 6-9. The data show an increased level of support for one-party rule amid a currently divided government in which the Democrats control the presidency and the Senate, while the Republicans control the House. This suggests many Americans are experiencing divided-government fatigue.

Opinions on divided government have fluctuated over the years. When one party controlled both Congress and the presidency in 2006 and 2010, Gallup found near-historical lows supporting one-party rule. This suggests Americans may simply tend to prefer what they don’t have or see problems in whatever the current situation is. At least one chamber of Congress changed hands in the subsequent elections, and the increase in support for one-party government in 2008 foreshadowed an election that would give the Democrats sole control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

“I am endorsing Amendment 64 not despite my conservative beliefs, but because of them. Throughout my career in public policy and in public office, I have fought to reform or eliminate wasteful and ineffective government programs. There is no government program or policy I can think of that has failed in such a unique way as marijuana prohibition,” – former congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO)

About the Author ()

Comments (9)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. cassandra m says:

    Dear Mitt,

    Once addresses babies in much the way one addresses grownups — from the *front* side. Congratulations on creating another Democrat.

  2. cassandra m says:

    Friday Amusement from the New Yorker: My Name is Joe Biden and I’ll Be Your Server

    Hey, chief. There’s the guy. How you doin’? Got your friends here, party of six. Lady in the hat. Great to see you. My name is Joe Biden and I’ll be your server tonight. Lemme tell you a story. (He pulls up a chair and sits.)

  3. puck says:

    I think Mitt is taking the baby off his car roof: “Why does everything I put up there always poop on me?”

  4. Jason330 says:

    “… ‘divided government is good’ meme losing appeal with voters.”

    And people say that the Republican Congress didn’t accomplishment anything.

  5. puck says:

    The Republican attempt to push Social Security/Medicare cuts while promising “Current retirees won’t be affected” is falling flat all around the country. After all, these people are old enough to know better. The blowback on Republicans is still building and hasn’t peaked yet.

    Carper/Carney/Coons, pay attention. I’ve heard all of you say “Current retirees won’t be affected,” if nothing else by virtue of your backing Bowles Simpson. It’s not working.

    Even if they really won’t be affected by your cuts, seniors are more civic minded and less selfish than the insulting statement “current retirees won’t be affected” assumes.

  6. pandora says:

    Puck, my parents say the same thing. Whenever they hear the “Current retirees won’t be affected” line they say, “Do they think we’re selfish; that we don’t care about our children and grandchildren?”

  7. Liberal Elite says:

    Major voter fraud story coming out of Florida:

    “Suspicious voter registration forms found in 10 Florida counties”
    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-voter-registration-florida-republicans-20120928,0,7654954.story

    Guess who is being naughty…

  8. reis says:

    Fright Land is open!!! Time to terrify the little ones (whilst stuffing them with candy).

  9. Dana Garrett says:

    Mitt probably said, “Here, take this freeloading forty-seven-percenter back that will never vote for me.”