Polling Data From Earlier in the Week

For John, BLUF:  Washington is a mess and voters are almost beginning to notice.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Just two days before Congress got our financial house in some semblance of order, Pew ran a survey of the American People.  It had a number of findings, but I thought this was the most interesting:

The grim public mood is reflected in the record share of voters who want most members of Congress defeated in next year’s midterm elections. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of registered voters would like to see most members of Congress defeated; during the 2010 and 2006 election cycles, which both culminated in shifts in control of the House, no more than 57% in each of these two cycles wanted most members of Congress not to be reelected.

Moreover, the share saying they do not want their own representative reelected – 38% – is as high as it has been in two decades. At this stage in the 2010 and 2006 midterms, fewer wanted to see their own member of Congress defeated (29% in November 2009, 25% in September 2005).

Democrats can take comfort in thinking that this is a massive collapse of the Republican Party, leaving them to run things the way they did in the 1930s and the 1830s, but while the "Tea Parties" fell off in this polling period, it was a shift from 37% favorable / 45% unfavorable to 30% favorable to 49% unfavorable.  Not as bad a collapse as the leadership in DC.

• President—43%
• Dem Leaders in Congress—31%
• Rep Leaders in Congress—20%

The Republican Leaders have fallen from 25% in December 2012 to 20% this month.  The Democrat Party Leadership has fallen from 40% in that same time period to 31%.  (The President from 55% in December last.)

I would say everyone should tread lightly, notwithstanding the election of Mayor Cory Booker as the Junior Senator from New Jersey yesterday.  On the other hand, National Review consoled itself by noting that Mr Booker underperformed on election day, in a state that gave us Woodrow Wilson (well, New Jersey and Georgia).♠

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Why was the election on a Wednesday?  Is not Tuesday sacrosanct?  Could this signal greater flexibility in the future?