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'Who do you trust?'

Politics: NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems




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It's an election season, and the polls are starting to hit with increased frequency. Today, we have a new one from NPR. Most polls we've seen thus far have a national focus. Democrats aren't doing well, but the data can be an unreliable midterm predictor because it includes a lot of states where there's nothing in play. NPR decided to cut to the chase and find out what the electoral picture looked like in just 12 senatorial battleground states. They polled Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and West Virginia. If Democrats were hoping they'd find a reason to smile, they're about to be sorely disappointed. First up was Presidential approval - often a millstone around the neck of an unpopular Commander in Chief's party and still the number one predictor of midterm results. NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems President Obama is underwater 38 to 58 among overall voters, but the real news here is just how badly he's faring with Independents. There, he's enduring a crushing 30 point deficit - 33 to 63. Perhaps as a result of Obama's unpopularity, the Democrats are in trouble on the generic ballot. NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems Here, Republicans hold a 3 point lead - 8 points among the all-important independents. All of that is terrible news for the left, but we haven't gotten to the really bad stuff yet. The real problem facing Democrats is that they've squandered the people's faith. NPR asked "who do you trust" on four key issues, and the Dems are in terrible shape. First up, who do you trust to handle the economy? NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems Apparently, the spectacular successes of 5 consecutive "recovery summers" were just not enough to sell the American people on Democrat policies. Go figure. Here, the GOP holds a 10% overall lead, including a whopping 20% among independents. Next up, Health Care. Everyone loves Obamacare, right? Wrong. NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems Again, the Republicans take the lead, this time by 4 points overall and 9 points with independents. This was supposed to be a big win! What happened? It seems that forcing an unwanted, unnecessary, boondoggle down the voters' throats isn't all it’s cracked up to be. So how about foreign policy? This is another big area for the Dems. They've used "distrust of Republicans" to grow their power ever since 2006. They're spending virtually all of the Obama years blaming Bush for every single one of the current President's shortcomings, and they continue - desperately - to pin global chaos on his administration. ...But is it still working? In a word, no. NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems Uh-oh. It appears Democrats have squandered the foreign policy gains they made during Bush's second term. Keep in mind, these results were gathered between the 1st and 11th of June. That's before the Iraqi meltdown was dominating the news cycle, so this data would probably look even worse today. Finally, we have the one that should have the Democrats really, truly, rattled. The blue collar voter is supposed to be their meat and potatoes. Protecting the middle class is the oft-cited centerpiece of everything they do. No, they don't actually lift a finger to help these people, but it's their number one pretense. So, who do voters trust to shepherd the future of the middle class? NPR poll of 2014 battleground states is disastrous for Dems It's a tie. Now, you can ask yourself "how can 42% of the American people be stupid enough to think the Democrats are helping the middle class?" and you'd have a point. It's unfortunate that so many people are still buying the lie. However, you'd also be missing the bigger picture. That the GOP has managed a tie in this area is spectacular. For 70 years, this has been the beating heart of the left's most effective populist battle-cry. The GOP has - for decades - been portrayed as a bunch of corporatist billionaire fatcats. Democrats care about the little guy, protect the workers, and fight the money men. Unfortunately, the "worst economic recovery in history" combined with "the Lowest labor participation rate since the 70's" has a way of blunting their bogus message.


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