Listening To The People
by digby
Democracy Corps has released a new poll in anticipation of the impending assault against social security and it turns out that Washington is once again focused on the wrong problems:
Which TWO of the following do you think are the most important economic problems facing the country right now?
High unemployment...................................41
Outsourcing of jobs.................................33
The budget deficit is big and growing...............23
Wages and salaries have not kept up with the cost of living..............................................18
The economy is not growing..........................17
Taxes are too high..................................15
The government focused on bank bailouts and not on the middle class...............................................14
America is not keeping up with China and other countries...........................................12
The economic stimulus is not working................11
(Don't know/refused)................................ 4
And they know what they want the government to concentrate on:
Now I am going to read you a list of issues and I would like you to please tell me which TWO should be top priorities for the new Congress.
Economic recovery and new jobs................................46
Protecting Social Security and Medicare.......................34
Making sure that our children receive an education for these times.........................................................27
Cutting spending and the size of government...................25
Repealing the new health care law.............................17
Reducing the federal budget deficit...........................15
Keeping taxes low.............................................14
Investing in infrastructure, like roads and bridges, and in new industries....................................................14
(Don't know/Refused)...........................................2
Now I suppose if what you really want to do is please big business and Wall Street, this sort of thing would be irrelevant. But it's not the way one would normally go about winning elections.
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