Public Gives Democrats Points For Trying

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/09/public-gives-democrats-points.html

Public Gives Democrats Points For Trying

September 14, 2009 12:44 PM


Republicans are viewed as obstructionists who are not making a good faith effort to cooperate with Democrats in the health care debate, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted Sept. 10-12.

The same poll found that half the respondents thought Democrats were making an honest effort to cooperate with Republicans on health care. Sixty-two percent of the respondents said the Republicans were not negotiating in good faith.

But if there is any political blowback from this, it's hard to find. People were evenly divided on whether they would vote for (22 percent) or against (23 percent) a congressional candidate who supports the Democrats' health overhaul plan, with 54 percent saying it would make no difference to them. Forty-nine percent said they think the two parties are equally to blame for the tone of the debate.

The poll also found that 65 percent think the health care overhaul would increase the federal budget deficit while 9 percent think it would decrease the deficit.

The results were based on telephone interviews with 1,007 adults nationwide, and the poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

I believe that most people won't let any one issue completely decide their vote, but I also believe that people will be influenced by patterns of behavior.

And the republican pattern is obstructionist, partisan, and ugly.

I have a (republican) friend who will voted for Obama and will vote Democratic in the future. It's not just because of healthcare, or just because of ethics and hypocracy challanges, or just because of the opposition to the stimulus. It's the whole picture.

And the longer the Republicans keep digging, the longer it will take to dig themselves out again.