WASHINGTON - In an ominous election-year sign for Republicans, Americans are leaning sharply toward giving Democrats control of Congress, an AP-Ipsos poll finds. Democrats are favored 49 percent to 36 percent.
The poll was taken this week as Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to tax evasion, fraud and corruption charges and agreed to aid a federal investigation of members of Congress and other government officials.
President Bush's job approval remains low — 40 percent in the AP-Ipsos poll. About as many approve of his handling of Iraq, where violence against Iraqis and U.S. troops has been surging.
Now get a load of the Republican's response to this poll:
"I don't think anyone is hitting the panic button," said Rich Bond, a former Republican National Committee chairman. "But there is an acute recognition of the grim environment that both parties are operating in."
"If the Democrats had any leadership or any message, they could be poised for a good year," Bond said. "But in the absence of that, they have not been able to capitalize on Republican woes. Because of the size of the GOP majority, Democrats have to run the board, and I don't see that happening."
I don't think anyone is hitting the panic button yet? I'm sorry, but the Republicans just don't get it! This midterm election is going to be about their job performance--for both the presidency and Congress--of the last two-to-five years. In that time, we've seen scandals and corruption break out involving the Republican Congress--specifically Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. We've seen a Republican-controlled White House act as if they are a dictatorship, refusing to accept any accountability or abiding by any laws that they don't like. We've seen the Bush White House embark on torture of prisoners, investigating anti-war groups, domestically spying on American citizens through cell phones and emails, break the law by outing a CIA agent in retribution for criticism of the White House marketing of its war in Iraq. All of this has created an unease with how the Republicans are operating the government. And no feel-good talk of how we're winning the war in Iraq, or fears that the big, bad, al Qaida-boogyman is going to strike again is going to stop this unease from growing. Continuing on:
The public's unease with Republican leadership in the White House and Congress creates a favorable environment for Democrats, said Democratic consultant Dane Strother.
"The problem is you don't vote for a party," Strother said. "You're voting for a member of Congress. And we're a year away."
About a third of the public, 34 percent, approves of the job Congress is doing, and nearly twice as many, 63 percent, disapprove, according to the poll of 1,001 adults taken Jan. 3-5. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Public opinion of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress has been mixed, recent polling found.
"Neither one of the parties has done a very good job so far," said Cristal Mills, a political independent from Los Angeles. "They get away with murder, they get paid to pass certain things. It's the good ol' boy syndrome."
There is a political movement taking place here. For the past four years, we've had a government controlled by one political party--the Republicans. And since the Republicans have been in power here, they have refused to accept any oversight into the corruption that has occurred in their ranks. Power corrupts, absoloute power corrupts absoloutely. As the Republicans have been more successful in winning elections and gaining power, they've become even more hungry for greater power. And they've been arrogant enough, both in seeking to aquire this power, and in using it to the advantage of their right-wingnut ideologues, and big corporate interests. The problem here is that the only people who support the Republicans in Congress is their right-wing conservative and Christian evangelical base. The liberals and progressives will probably support the Democrats, while the Independents are split. The Independents may not like the Republican domestic and social programs, but they were willing to give President Bush and the Republican Congress the nod, due to terrorism fears and the continued support for the war in Iraq. But with the war starting to go badly, and with more Americans feeling that this war is a mistake and a disaster, continued Republican propaganda of claiming the Republicans will win the war on terrorism, while the Democrats would surrender to the terrorists, may not hold much persuasive sway among the Independents. So while this poll is still early, it is an onimous sign of disaster for the Republicans.
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