Rasmussen... Voters still pessimistic

Voters Hold Little Hope for What New Congress Is Likely To Achieve

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Maybe the new Congress should just take the next couple years off because voters sure aren’t very hopeful about what they are likely to accomplish.

Likley U.S. Voters in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey were given a short list of issues that Congress will consider in the next couple of years and asked whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about what the legislators will accomplish in these areas. The answers reflect even deeper pessimism among voters than they expressed after the midterm elections in 2006.

Maybe that’s no surprise given the finding just after Election Day that 59% think it is at least somewhat likely most voters will be disappointed with Republicans in Congress before the next national elections in 2012, with 38% who say it is Very Likely.

Voters are gloomiest about immigration, with just 17% who are optimistic about what Congress will accomplish in the next couple years, down 10 points from the 2006 survey. Sixty-seven percent (67%) now are pessimistic. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

But then 62% of voters believe the current policies and practices of the federal government encourage people to enter the United States illegally.

In another Rasmussen post…

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16 (see trends).

President Obama’s bipartisan deficit reduction commission ultimately will propose tax hikes, spending cuts or a combination of the two to reduce the country's historic high debt, but most Americans feel they - and not Congress - should have the final say on whether the commission's proposals become law.  Meanwhile a slight majority of voters now say it’s possible to balance the budget without raising taxes.