By Susan Duclos
The Hill conducted a poll on the Republican budget proposal versus the Democratic budget proposal, but did not mention which proposal came from which party. Voters two-to-one, favored the Republican plan over the Democratic plan.
Respondents in The Hill Poll were asked to choose which of two approaches they would prefer on the budget, but the question’s phrasing included no cues as to which party advocated for which option.
Presented in that way, 55 percent of likely voters opted for a plan that would slash $5 trillion in government spending, provide for no additional tax revenue and balance the budget within 10 years — in essence, the path recommended by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week.
This was almost twice as many voters as opted for a proposal that would include $1 trillion in added tax revenue as well as $100 billion in infrastructure spending, and which would reduce the deficit without eradicating it.
Only 28 percent of voters preferred this option, which reflects the proposal put forth by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) last week.
An even stronger majority of respondents, 65 percent, said U.S. budget deficits should be reduced mostly by cutting spending rather than by raising taxes. Just 24 percent said the budget should be balanced mostly by increasing revenue.
In general, Democrats favor a much greater emphasis on tax revenue than do Republicans, most of whom are adamantly opposed to any increased taxes at all.
The kicker comes when the poll does specify party:
However, as soon as respondents heard the words “Republican” and “Democrat,” the picture changed drastically. A plurality of voters, 35 percent, said they trust the Democrats more on budgetary issues, while 30 percent said they trust the Republicans more. A full 34 percent said they trust neither party.
These findings buttress the impression that the Republican label itself incites mistrust among many voters.
This brings up another point.
The RNC just unveiled their "autopsy" on the 2012 elections, titled the "Growth and Opportunity Project." A scathing report on why Republicans are seen as narrow minded, out of touch and stuffy old men.
On page three of that 100 page report they showed what their research found, what was specified and in reading the report there is a major, glaringly obvious topic missing.
As requested by Chairman Priebus, we made recommendations in the following areas:
1.Messaging
2.Demographic Partners
3.Campaign Mechanics
4.Friends and Allies (Third Party Groups)
5.Fundraising
6.Campaign Finance
7.Primary Process
None of those issues above address why the Republican party is seen as out of touch, non-inclusive, stuffy old men who are narrow minded.
It is like the RNC deliberately ignored the huge white elephant in the room.
Liberal media bias.
Polls by multiple organizations have consistently found that the public doesn't trust the media, a full 60 percent, as of Gallup's September 2012 polling, trust the media "not very much/none and at all." When asked about bias, polls from The Hill and Gallup, among others, show American voters see liberal media bias, more than three times as many as those that see conservative bias in one poll and more than two times as many in the other poll.
Gallup:
The majority of Americans (60%) also continue to perceive bias, with 47% saying the media are too liberal and 13% saying they are too conservative, on par with what Gallup found last year...
The Hill:
A full 68 percent of voters consider the news media biased, the poll found. Most, 46 percent, believe the media generally favor Democrats, while 22 percent said they believe Republicans are favored, with 28 percent saying the media is reasonably balanced.
One would think that in a report that addresses what went wrong in a presidential election, an autopsy as it was dubbed, Republicans would understand that if they cannot reach voters with their ideas, which the public prefers when they do not know what party suggested them, a large focus would be on bypassing the mainstream liberally biased media and "reaching" the American people as a whole.
The "outreach" the Growth and Opportunity Project report focuses on, is outreach to increase the party base.
Newsflash for the GOP- The base would be increased if the Republican leadership could get their messaging heard over the noise of the liberal media bias.
Page after page deals with minority outreach, demographic outreach, outreach to women, outreach to young voters, but not American voter outreach, which is what their main problem is.
Using Latinos/Hispanics as an example: From 2009 through 2012, it was shown that Latino's priority in voting was economic issues. The same priorities as everyone else in America.
As the original The Hill poll quoted at the beginning of the post showed clearly, voters prefer Republican ideas on economic issues such as the budget, so if the GOP worked on their "outreach, not on specific Latino issues, but instead to get passed the roar of the media insisting Republicans are out of touch, stuffy narrow minded old white men.... the Republican base would automatically be increased by fiscally conservative Hispanics.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has dubbed the report an "autopsy," so going with that theme, a coroner conducts autopsies and their job is not to just list the injuries on a dead body but to determine the "cause of death," which is something the GOP report, their "autopsy," failed to do.
It is astounding that the very report conducted and released by the GOP that states Republicans are seen as out of touch and narrow minded, is in and of itself, out of touch and narrow minded.