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Monday, January 25, 2010

CNN: Americans applaud Democrats' loss of supermajority

"The poll provides more evidence of the dwindling appeal of the Democratic party in the wake of last week's special election in Massachusetts," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Fewer Americans have a favorable view of the Democrats, and fewer support Democratic control on Capitol Hill."


CNN:

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday also indicates that 7 in 10 Americans believe that the Democrats' loss of their 60 seat supermajority in the Senate is a positive move for the country.


Our political system was set up to be separate entities, checking each other, stopping any one political class from railroading the whole country and it looks like Americans are starting to see this and registering their opinion on how Washington is being run right now. The filibuster was also created to put the brakes on any one party who took majority, and yet we hear many crying about how it isn't fair.

History does indeed repeat itself. When Republicans controlled all three branches it led to dysfunction and instead of looking towards that time and seeing what not to do, the Democrats have replicated it instead and have become just as dysfunctional.

Gateway Pundit makes a valid point here.

Of course, the fact that democrats just tripled the national deficit in one year probably didn’t help them much either.


Handicappers regarding upcoming November elections

The Rothenberg Political Report with "28 House Seats move toward GOP"

We are adding a dozen new seats to our list of districts “in play” – all of them currently held by Democrats. In addition, we have moved 16 districts within our list – two held by the GOP and the rest currently represented by a Democrat. All of the moves benefit the GOP, either because Republican districts now look safer or Democratic districts appear more vulnerable.

Given that we expect more Democratic retirements in the next few months and anticipate that more Democratic-held districts will increase in vulnerability between now and the fall, we are raising our target for GOP gains to 24 to 28 seats, with higher Republican gains possible. Of course, changes in the national mood between now and November could also benefit Democrats.

In addition, we can no longer dismiss the possibility of a Republican wave so large that Democrats could lose their House majority. We stress, however, that we currently expect Republicans to fall short of the 40 seats they would need. Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts doesn’t mean that every Republican candidate will win in November.


Come November there is a good chance that a portion of balance will be restored.

The Cook Political Report:

Democrats currently have 49 seats listed as Lean or Toss Up.
Republicans currently have 10 seats listed as Lean or Toss Up.


Cook's rates 87 Democratic seats and 26 Republican districts as being competitive.

Democrats currently have 49 seats listed as Lean or Toss Up.
Republicans currently have 10 seats listed as Lean or Toss Up.


Related Headlines:
Commentary Magazine with "Re: Divided Government Is Back in Fashion"

That’s remarkable, following the pronouncements by the punditocracy that the 2008 election represented a sea change in the electorate and a mandate for a radical restructuring of government. Americans got a whiff of that and of an unchecked Democratic majority and didn’t like what they saw. Had Obama not lurched so far Left, or had he not delegated his agenda to the bitter partisans Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the public might have been more inclined to give him free rein. If Obama had restrained his Left, the public wouldn’t feel compelled to restrain him.

But no more. It is not easy to get 70 percent of Americans to agree on anything, but putting the filibuster back in play seems to be a winner. That, once again, demonstrates just how far out of touch with ordinary voters is the Left, which has gone after the filibuster as “anti-democratic.” Many things in our constitutional system are designed to act as a brake on the power of untrammeled majorities. What is amusing to conservatives, and no doubt distressing to the Left, is that the vast majority of voters want that brake.


The Fix with "Poll shows Democrats slipping, Obama dismisses impact"

....The sentiment clearly expressed in the data is that people like the idea of checks and balances on the two parties. After the 2006 and 2008 elections saw Democrats sweep into the majority and then broaden it considerably, the coming midterm election -- if this poll and others like it are to be believed -- could well be a natural move back toward middle ground for many voters who sided with Democrats over the last two cycles. Obama, for his part, is publicly dismissive of the current surveys, arguing that there is more to governing than positive poll ratings: "I don't want to look back on my time here and say to myself all I was interested in was nurturing my own popularity," Obama said in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer. As we have said before, Obama has the luxury of riding out the current poll dip as he won't stand before voters until November 2012. House and Senate Democrats up for reelection this fall won't be so lucky.


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