Tag: poll
Poll Shows Even Republicans Don't Trust GOP To Protect Social Security

Poll Shows Even Republicans Don't Trust GOP To Protect Social Security

A new survey from Navigator Research doesn’t just show how strongly voters feel about protecting Social Security and Medicare, but it also shows how much voters don’t trust Republican lawmakers to do it. And that’s including a solid majority — 61 percent —of Republicans.

The survey finds that 75 percent of registered voters are either somewhat or very concerned that congressional Republicans “passed a tax plan that gave record-breaking tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations, but would result in cuts to programs that people count on like Social Security and Medicare.” Supporting tax breaks for the wealthy at the cost of Social Security and Medicare are the most concerning positions of Republicans in Congress on the issue of taxes.

Voters have good reason not to trust the GOP. Right now, House Republicans are plotting yet another fiscal commission that could fast track Social Security and Medicare cuts, in the name of deficit reduction, and they want to include that commission in the 2024 funding package. We’ve seen this ploy from Republicans before, with the Bowles-Simpson commission in 2010 and a congressional “super committee” in 2011. These committees are how Republicans have tried to cut Social Security and Medicare without dirtying their own hands. In this ploy, a committee would be responsible for coming up with the plan, and then Congress would have to pass it in order to save the country from the deficit.

This time around, however, the majority of Democrats aren’t going to play the deficit-peacock game, and they’re calling this plan what it is: “They should probably call this commission the Commission to Slash Benefits,” Rep. John Larson of Connecticut said at a recent press conference. “It’s tantamount to passing a death panel, because that will be the impact on so many Americans.”

Social Security doesn’t have to be cut to be saved. Democrats have legislation to shore up the Social Security trust fund by raising payroll taxes on those making more than $400,000 a year. The cutoff for payroll taxes this year is $168,600. Earnings beyond that aren’t subject to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.

This new commission is “undemocratic” Larson said, because it would all be in the hands of the committee, leaving lawmakers out of the process—just as Republicans want it. “We need hearings out in the open on specific proposals so the public can see what’s going on,” he said.

Judging by the Navigator survey results, the public knows exactly what Republicans have planned, and they don’t like it.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Poll: Most Americans Support Teachers Unions Despite Right-Wing Attacks

Poll: Most Americans Support Teachers Unions Despite Right-Wing Attacks

New polling data shows most Americans have favorable views toward teachers’ unions.

According to a survey of 1,000 registered voters released by Navigator Research on August 30, U.S. voters back teachers’ unions by a 30 percent margin, with 55 percent indicating support for the unions and just 25 percent indicating negative attitudes toward them.

The only group the poll showed to view teachers’ unions negatively was Republicans who identify as being “very conservative,” with only 22 percent of that group supporting the unions, compared to 62 percent who said they view them unfavorably.

Meanwhile, the polling data showed 45 percent of both independent voters and Republicans who do not identify as being “very conservative” as having favorable views toward teachers’ unions, with 34 percent and 23 percent indicating unfavorable views, respectively. Some 74 percent of Democrats back teachers’ unions, with just nine percent viewing them negatively.

The survey, which covered voters’ priorities toward education, was conducted online between Augiust 17 and August 21.

Republican political candidates continue to staunchly oppose teachers’ unions.

On the Republican presidential primary debate stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott called for an end to unions’ influence.

“The only way we change education in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers’ unions,” Scott said. “They are standing in the doorhouse of our kids, locking them in failing schools, and locking them out of the greatest future they can have.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also called teachers’ unions “the biggest threat to our country.”

Republican presidential candidates aren’t the only ones still taking shots at teachers’ unions.

Dave McCormick, who’s running to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat for Pennsylvania currently held by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr., said in March that he would like to “break the back of our teachers’ unions.” In those remarks, McCormick also accused teachers of introducing “sexualization” in elementary schools.

The Navigator Research poll also shows voters are more concerned about gun violence in schools and getting kids the education they need to be successful than they are about accusations that teachers are instructing students on gender and sexuality.

More than half of voters surveyed, or 58 percent, said keeping kids “safe from gun violence and mass shootings in schools and other public places” is an issue to focus on, compared to 28 percent who expressed concern about students “being exposed to woke ideas about race and gender in school.”.

Another recent poll released by the National Education Association similarly showed that voters are much more worried about school shootings and teacher pay than they are about social justice issues being taught in schools.

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.

Ron DeSantis

New Poll: DeSantis Fading In GOP Primary As Trump Gains

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who hasn't officially announced 2024 presidential bid yet, finally stepped into the campaign fray Monday with a jab about Donald Trump "paying hush money to a porn star."

"I can't speak to that," DeSantis told reporters, feigning naïveté about such a sordid topic.

It was DeSantis' first real swipe at Trump after he had been absorbing body blows for over a month, but did it come too late?

A new Morning Consult tracking poll updated Tuesday suggested continued slippage for DeSantis.

Here's the breakdown of candidates who even register:

  • Trump 54%(+28)
  • DeSantis 26%
  • Pence 7%
  • Haley 4%
  • Cheney 3%
  • Abbott 1%
  • Noem 1%
  • Pompeo 1%
  • Youngkin 1%
  • T. Scott 1%
  • Ramaswamy 1%

Morning Consult writes that DeSantis' latest showing tied his lowest level of support since the tracker began in December.

Trump has also been steadily gaining steam in the survey for the last couple months, with a 28-point lead now compared to 24 points earlier this month, up from a much weaker 16-point lead in mid-February.

Late last week, New York Times' Nate Cohn analyzed several months of data from a dozen polling outlets regularly tracking the GOP field and found that "every single one" had shown DeSantis losing momentum while Trump made gains.

Morning Consult's latest survey was conducted March 17-19, so it does not incorporate any reactions to the latest dustup between Trump and DeSantis. But it does incorporate DeSantis flip-flopping on Ukraine with his new declaration that its conflict with Russia is merely a "territorial dispute" that does not lie within America's "vital" strategic interests.

DeSantis has been enduring months of withering attacks from Trump, but things are about to get a lot hotter.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

New Poll: Majority Says Trump Should Be Barred From Presidency

New Poll: Majority Says Trump Should Be Barred From Presidency

Based on "what we know about the ongoing investigations into Donald Trump," a substantial number of voters believe former President Donald Trump should not “be allowed to serve as president again in the future.”

According to the results of a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, only 35 percent of voters believe the former president should be allowed to serve in the capacity of president again. More than 50 percent say he should not.

The poll, which consisted of responses from 1,566 participants, was conducted from September 23 to 27.

It came shortly after reports circulated about New York state Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit as part of her office's investigation into the Trump Organization.

This evaluation suggests voters see enough evidence to disqualify Trump from entering the presidential race in 2024. But despite the results, the report explains why the full scope of the poll is not unfavorable for the former president.

"The new Yahoo News/YouGov poll wasn’t all bad news for the former president," Yahoo News reports. "Three weeks ago, President Biden held a 6-point lead over Trump (48 percent to 42 percent) in a hypothetical head-to-head 2024 rematch — the Democrat’s largest advantage in months. In the latest survey, Biden’s margin has shrunk to two percentage points (47 percent to 45 percent)."

Although Trump is still seen as a strong influence within the Republican Party, the poll results indicate his impact may be waning.

"While Trump remains as competitive as ever in a general-election context — where partisanship matters most — the new poll also suggests his standing among Republican voters may be softening somewhat."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.