Here's the bad news:
Cabinet members, Congressional leaders and both parties in Congress have also seen their ratings slip, with Democrats seeing one of the biggest dips in approval, the telephone poll of 1,011 U.S. adults shows....A generalized antipathy to both parties translates into a distrust of the very idea of government, and that attitude can only help Republicans.
At the same time, only a quarter of Americans polled give Democrats a positive rating in the latest poll, compared with 31% in August, while Republicans' approval ratings fell to 27% from 32%.
(Side note: I've always felt that the Vietnam-era anti-war movement helped to sire the Reagan revolution. A generation of protestors shouted: Don't trust the government. Reagan took up the same chant: Yes, don't trust government. Let corporations run everything. That history will surely repeat itself a few years after we pull out of the Iraq quagmire.)
No matter how much hatred America shows toward Republicans, people seem to hate the Dems even more. The liberals hold very little power, yet still receive the brunt of the blame for all that goes wrong in this country. How can we explain the fact that the progressives never seem to benefit from the conservatives' record of hyper-hypocrisy and failure?
Many progressives will sing a familiar tune: "Of course Democratic numbers are dropping. They're wimps. They have to show more spine!" But Democratic leaders have been making some bravura moves during the period covered by this poll. We've seen tougher speeches. We've seen reversals of past support for the war. We've seen Harry Reids' much-lauded maneuver. We've seen, in short, some balls.
Face it: Ballsiness isn't working. It should work. I wish it would work. But you can't argue with numbers.
So what to do now? I'm looking for positive suggestions -- by which I mean something other than shouting insults at Democratic leaders, which is every progressive's favorite sport. (Beating up on your own candidates is a sure recipe for disaster, which is why you never see the other side engaging in that activity. Alas, some "liberals" seem to like losing.)
8 comments:
It's hard to show that the dip in approval ratings is due to confrontational tactics (or any other single factor).
Many of us who have wanted the Dems to show some spine are frustrated as hell about the incrementalist approach they are taking in exposing the corruption, hypocrisy, and incompetance of the Republican leadership. Paradoxically, the lower numbers could reflect increased disenchantment from Democrats who have been waiting for movement in the leadership, but aren't seeing enough.
Of course, there's danger in getting too far in front of the media on key issues, so the Democratic leadership is working at a huge disadvantage. But if they continually operate behind the curve, no one will give them credit for the leadership image they seek.
Then there's the coattails effect that all politicians suffer when the leaders of the country are shown to be inept and corrupt. That should reflect lower numbers across the board among less informed voters.
Finally, there's the question of leadership on the issues - there's no question that Democrats have, until very recently, been timid in staking out their own positions - in part because they don't want Republicans to steal their thunder, and in part because (justifiably) they do not believe the media will give them credit for their own ideas, or give their side of the argument air time.
Face it - the Democrats are in a tough spot with these poll numbers - but I don't think there's a single answer to reversing them, nor do I personally believe that showing spine is a significant contributor to the downturn.
Myxzptlk
Joseph, our country is utterly and completely bankrupt, and dependent on Asia for loans to finance day-to-day operations. The American people chose to head down this road back in 1980, when they elected that avuncular fantasist Ronald Reagan. And the Federal Reserve, under 18 years of Alan Greenspan, allowed the bankrupting to happen.
I can't imagine it's that big a secret in the halls of power. So what can a politician--Dem or Rep--do? Continue the lies. And the Reps are very proficient at that.
If a Dem is to get elected, he has to out-lie the Rep candidate--that is, spin a better fairytale or conjure up a better distraction.
My advice to a Dem candidate would be only this: tell us the damned truth for a change, and offer us hope that we can fix things. And blame the mess on the Reps!
And, Anon 9:25 is quite correct, in my view. Most dissatisfaction with the Dems is because they have laid down to get walked over. Not because they have lately stood up, but because they haven't stood tall enough.
What should Democrats do to improve their popularity?
The recent Zogby poll gives an obvious answer: introduce Articles of Impeachment.
The American people are sick of Bush and Cheney. They want to get rid of them, and they don't want to endure 3 long years of lies, evasions, and political attacks.
Let's listen to the American people - Impeach Bush Now!
Let's impeach Bush next year--after continuing failures in Iraq, further revelations about the Plame/Brewster-Jennings matter, the electronic voting machines, and increasingly bold investigations into 9/11 arouse a wave of disgust among the American people resulting in a Democratic sweep in 11/06 and control of the House and the Senate.
Pelosi for President in '07!
If Democrats can't win on a progressive platform, there's not much point in electing them. They'll inherit a mess, without the power to correct it. We'll just get four years of sub-Clintonism.
If the Dems can't learn to sell social justice and responsible governance to people who would benefit from same, it's because they don't believe in a social contract, any more than Republicans do.
And look at John McCain -- widely admired simply because he's candid on occasion (and despite some highly regressive positions, well out of the mainstream). There is no equivalent on the Democratic side, apart from unelectables like Waxman and Kucinich.
But the bulk of these buggers are more concerned with protecting their own seats, than real governance. Until that changes....
The spine shown by the Democrats of late is clear to us, but how has it been portrayed in the MSM? It will take a lot more, for a lot longer time for the truth that the Democrats are starting to wake up to leak out there. The Downing Street memos got out, eventually, without much help from the MSM, but it took time. A lot more of the Democrats showing spine for a lot longer and the poll numbers will begin to shift.
apart from unelectables like Waxman and Kucinich.
Well, if you let them define who's electable and who's not, you'll never get anyone different.
Post a Comment