Almost one-third of Americans support President Barack Obama's proposal to allow tax rates to rise for the wealthiest, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.
Nearly half of those surveyed think the tax breaks, which were enacted under former President George W. Bush, should be extended for everyone, including those who make more than $200,000 a year and would be excluded under Obama's proposal.
Fifteen percent back stronger action than Obama has proposed -- letting all the lower tax rates expire, a view typically held by those worried about the yawning budget deficit.
This is mostly important because once again President Obama has chosen to be on the minority side of an issue. I know presidents aren't supposed to govern by polls but you also can't consistently go against the will of the people and govern.
Obama long passed that point. As such, he'll get nothing new through. More than that, continuing to take stances that go against the population in general will be evident in November.
The next major political battle will come over these tax cuts, and once again President Obama starts from a position of weakness.
2 comments:
I don't understand how that's a minority position. If half want the across the board cuts to stay, and the other half want either all of the cuts to expire or just the 200k+ cuts to expire, that's 50-50.
As for position of weakness, I don't see that either. After all, its the Republicans who have no way of actually extending said tax cuts, even if you win the House in November. In order to get his way, all Obama has to do is nothing.
As with many polls, there's also a substantial portion of undecideds. So, you could believe that Obama will convince all of them that raising taxes is a good idea nut likely at least some will eventually go to the other side.
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