Dear Dems: You can win the argument over Bush tax cuts
With more and more Beltway types predicting that Dems may put off the vote over the Bush tax cuts until after the election, I thought it would be useful to pull together all the polling that shows this is an argument Dems have a rather good shot at, you know, winning if they decide to go for it.
* A new National Journal poll finds that 56 percent support ending either all the Bush tax cuts or just the ones for the wealthy, while barely more than a third want to keep them all.
* The new Gallup poll shows that 59 percent of Americans -- and a majority of independents -- supports either ending all the Bush tax cuts or just the ones for the wealthy.
Indeed, Gallup finds that Obama's proposal -- ending the tax cuts for the wealthy but not for everyone else -- has the support of 44 percent, more than any other solution.
* A CNN poll in late August found that a majority, 51 percent, favors ending the tax cuts for the rich, and another 18 percent favor ending them all.
It also found that among independents, 44 percent favor ending the tax cuts for the rich, while another 21 percent favor ending them all. Letting the tax cuts for the rich expire has majority support in all regions of the country except the south.
* A recent CBS poll also found a sizable majority, 56 percent, think the tax cuts for the wealthy should expire.
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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/09/dear_dems_you_can_win_the_argu.htmlYet for all this polling, there are increasing signs that some Dems are not gung-ho for this fight. As best as I can tell, the worry is that if Republicans hammer marginal Dems for favoring a tax hike in the middle of a bad economy, Dems will not be able to cut through the noise and get across the point that the Obama proposal only ends the tax cuts for the rich, while extending them for everyone else.