Poll: Minnesotans poised for backlash against incumbents

[a kennedy]

The latest Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute Poll finds likely Minnesota voters are angry and poised for a backlash against incumbents this fall.

The poll shows that unhappiness with Democrats who control the White House and Congress is helping Republicans in Minnesota.

Pollsters interviewed 750 likely voters between Aug. 25 and Sunday. The poll has a 5.3 percentage point margin of sampling error.

"The voters of Minnesota have very high blood pressure and they're furious," said University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs, who oversaw the poll. "One of the main themes that comes out of this poll is we are seeing an extraordinary level of anger at Washington."

The indictment is sweeping, he said.

"Three quarters of Minnesota voters are saying that they trust Washington never or only some of the time," Jacobs said. "Almost three quarters disapprove of the job that Congress is doing. Six out of 10 think that the federal government has become too powerful, and we're seeing majorities also say that they disapprove of President Obama and his signature health reform."

Jacobs said there is a clear backlash against politicians in general, but that because Democrats control the White House and Congress they have the biggest problems right now.

"The 2006 and 2008 elections were very much a referendum on George Bush, the war in Iraq and how things were generally going in the country," he said. "The 2010 election seems to be shaping up as a referendum on Barack Obama and the Democrats in Washington. Now, in fairness, the Democrats and President Obama are being held responsible for some things that didn't really occur on their watch."
That includes the nation's financial meltdown, which was boiling over during Bush's final months in office.

But the poll shows programs pushed by the Obama administration are also hurting Democrats. A thin majority told pollsters they disapprove of the health care overhaul, and more than two thirds said the economic stimulus had either no impact on the economy or made the economy worse.

Even though a solid majority of poll respondents - 59 percent - said they thought the federal government has too much power, nearly three out of four said they thought Social Security and Medicare were worth the cost to taxpayers. And more than two-thirds said they would support either higher income taxes on relatively high earners, or taxing clothing sales rather than cutting core government services to balance the state budget.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_41b30eda-b644-11df-8a46-001cc4c002e0.html

Guess this is why Michelle Bachmann get's into office........with attitudes like this.... :grr: :grr: edit to correct grammar

[Tansy_Gold]

1. P.S.

(you need to fix "get's" to "gets") (wouldn't pick this nit if you hadn't already expressed concern over grammar) (:hi: )

[a kennedy]

2. thank you.

:blush: :blush: :blush:

[griffi94]

3. wouldn't an anti-incumbent backlash

work against bachmann.

[Demoiselle]

7. My thought exactly, griffi.

[qb]

4. I hope this anger extends to the incumbent party of the governor's office.

[asjr]

5. This year might be the year of election anger.

Being angry is okay, but to vote for someone based on anger about another is total disaster.

[budkin]

6. LOL, they think the stimulus made the economy worse? Man there are some stupid people in the US

[Enthusiast]

8. Well they hear it every day

in the media. After a while they start to believe it. We know the stimulus was effective but it could have been far more effective.

And the stimulus was wrong in two significant ways: too much of the stimulus was composed of tax cuts and the stimulus was too small. It also should have been focused almost entirely on infrastructure improvement.