According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, voters now want to see a Republican majority in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Respondents said they believed Congress to be unproductive overall, but that they do not wish the majority to change in the House.
The poll asked registered voters if they thought Congress was very productive, somewhat productive, somewhat unproductive, or very unproductive. Fifty percent answered that they believed Congress to be very unproductive, with a mere three percent responding that Congress had been very productive.
When asked if they wish to see the majority in the House remain Republican or change to Democrat, 43 percent answered that they wanted Republicans to stay in the majority, while 41 percent responded that they wish the House to have a Democratic majority. Sixteen percent were unsure.
Similar questions regarding the Senate revealed that voters wished for the Republicans to gain a majority in the Senate. Forty-three percent indicated a preference for a Republican majority while 41 percent preferred a Democratic majority. Fifteen percent of voters responded that they were unsure.
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Rather surprisingly, of those polled, more identified themselves as Democrats than Republicans. Twenty-six percent of those polled called themselves soft Democrats while 19 percent identified as strong Democrats, while 18 percent called themselves strong Republicans and 24 percent soft Republicans.
There appears to be a correlation between voters’ disenchantment with the Democratic party and President Obama’s approval ratings. A June National Public Radio poll revealed that the president’s approval ratings are lower than the national average in key battleground states for the U.S. Senate. Only 38 percent of voters in 12 states with competitive Senate races approve of Obama’s performance. Those voters also strongly disapprove of the Democrat-controlled Senate. Overall, 45 percent showed strong disapproval, while another 18 percent indicated they somewhat disapproved.
The polls indicate that the Democrats might be in trouble, particularly since the NBC poll reveals that even those who identify as Democrats are unhappy with the party.
Democrats have been working hard at fundraising, focusing primarily on fighting a hypothetical Republican impeachment attempt, and have thus far raised $2.1 million, the Washington Post reports. But as observed by the Daily Caller, campaigning on that premise could prove to be a problem, as key Republicans have already stated that the party was not considering impeachment.
House Speaker John Boehner criticized the Democratic party’s focus on impeachment as a political ploy for money. Last Tuesday, he remarked, “This whole talk about impeachment is coming from the president’s own staff. And coming from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Why? Because they are trying to rally their people to give money and to show up in this year’s election.” “We have no plans to impeach the president,” he added. “We have no future plans. Listen, it’s all a scam, started by Democrats at the White House.”
House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) made similar assertions during an appearance on Fox New’s Chris Wallace on Sunday. Noting that the Republicans were suing the president for overreach, Wallace asked if the House Republicans were considering impeachment. “You know what, this might be the first White House in history that’s trying to start the narrative of impeaching their own president,” Scalise said. “Ultimately, what we want to do is see the president follow the laws.”
“We’ve made it clear we’re going to put options on the table to allow the House to take legal action against the president when he overreaches his authority,” he added.
“But impeachment is off the table?” Wallace asked. “Well, the White House wants to talk about impeachment,” Scalise replied. “Ironically, they’re going out and trying to fundraise off of that too.”
“Look, the White House will do anything they can to change the topic away from the president’s failed agenda,” the Scalise continued. “People are paying higher costs for food, for healthcare, for gas at the pump. And the president isn’t solving those problems. So he wants to try to change the subject.”
Still, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest helped fuel the Democrat’s impeachment platform by stating last week that “there are senior members of the Republican political party or certainly prominent voices in the Republican Party who are calling for [impeachment].”
But as observed by the Daily Caller, the “one well-known Republican politician touting impeachment is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has called on Congress to impeach Obama instead of suing him.”
That has not stopped Democrats from pointing to impeachment to encourage voters to donate money. Last Monday, for example, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out an e-mail from House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with the subject “kiss all hope goodbye,” saying, “If Boehner has his way, we might as well kiss all hope goodbye for the remainder of President Obama’s term.”
“Case in point: this week, Boehner is planning a vote to sue the President,” Pelosi wrote. “The House of Representatives has never sued a sitting President in all of U.S. history. And if they do it, impeachment may very well be the next step.”
Perhaps Democrats are sensing that their position is in danger, as the NBC poll was not the first to spell trouble for this administration. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found President Obama to be the worst president since World War II, surpassing even President George W. Bush, who left the office with a 34-percent approval rating, according to Gallup.
