United Liberty

As the business community and more public polling shows opposition to ObamaCare, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tells us, “[W]e have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

President Barack Obama made a promise to promote transparency by having negotiations broadcast on C-SPAN. Even though C-SPAN encouraged President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress to let people see the process, they failed to follow through. Even if they had made good on the promise, certain aspects of ObamaCare are going to be controverisal, such as the individual and employer mandates and breaking the pledge not to tax the middle class.

You don’t hide the process. That’s how you make sausage, not health care policy.

Rasmussen is out with new polling in Kentucky showing Rand Paul and his primary opponent, Trey Grayson, with double-digit leads over potential general election match-ups with Democrats, Daniel Mongiardo and Jack Conway.

Rand Paul v. Daniel Mongiardo

• Mongiardo: 34%
• Paul: 51%
• Other: 3%
• Not sure: 12%

Rand Paul v. Jack Conway

• Conway: 34%
• Paul: 49%
• Other: 4%
• Not sure: 13%

Grayson also polls well against Conway and Mongiardo, but not as well at Paul.

Opposition to health care is an issue that is hurting the two Democrats, as 53% of likely voters strongly oppose ObamaCare. Voters are also not very kind to President Barack Obama on the issue, as 58% disapprove of his handling of health care.

A new poll from Rasmussen shows that the government has lost the consent of the governed:

The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% disagree and say the government does not have the necessary consent. Eighteen percent (18%) of voters are not sure.
[…]
Among voters under 40, 25% believe government has the consent of the governed. That compares to 19% of those ages 50 to 64 and 16% of the nation’s senior citizens.

Those who earn more than $100,000 a year are more narrowly divided on the question, but those with lower incomes overwhelming reject the notion that today’s government has the consent from which to derive its just authority. Those with the lowest incomes are the most skeptical.

When a government constantly goes off course by defying the Constitution, colludes with business to undermine taxpayers and attempts to alter rights and liberties that existed before the foundation of the government, you cannot expect anything less than people to lose faith.

Voters aren’t buying the rhetoric from President Obama on his proposed spending freeze, according to new polling from Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just nine percent (9%) think the freeze will reduce the deficit a lot.

Eighty-one percent (81%) disagree, including 42% who say it will have no impact. Another 39% say the freeze in nearly all areas except defense, national security, veterans affairs and entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will reduce the deficit a little.

Still, 56% favor the president’s plan for a three-year freeze on discretionary spending. Only 24% oppose it, and 20% more are undecided. Other data suggests that voters view the proposal as a first step in the right direction.

Overall, 57% would like to see a cut in government spending, 23% favor a freeze, and 12% say the government should increase spending. Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly favor spending cuts. Democrats are evenly divided between spending cuts and a spending freeze.

What’s more, voters aren’t buying the rosy picture of the economy that the president painted during his State of the Union address to Congress, with majorities not believing that Obama has cut taxes for 95% of Americans or that the economy is growing or that 2 million more people have been put back to work by “stimulus” spending.

Rasmussen, who had Scott Brown trailing Martha Coakley by 9 points just last week, now shows the Massachusetts Senate race now in a statistical dead heat:

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley attracting 49% of the vote while her Republican rival, state Senator Scott Brown, picks up 47%.

Three percent (3%) say they’ll vote for independent candidate Joe Kennedy, and two percent (2%) are undecided. The independent is no relation to the late Edward M. Kennedy, whose Senate seat the candidates are battling to fill in next Tuesday’s election.

Coakley is supported by 77% of Democrats while Brown picks up the vote from 88% of Republicans. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Brown leads 71% to 23%. To be clear, this lead is among unaffiliated voters who are likely to participate in the special election.

The election is next Tuesday. It’s going to come down to the wire.

Hindsight is 20/20, but voters think the bailouts were a bad idea:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% of voters think it was a good idea for the government to provide bailout funding for banks and other financial institutions. Fifty-six percent (56%) hold the opposite view and believe it was a bad idea. These findings are virtually unchanged from April of last year.

The new numbers are similar when it comes to the bailout funding for GM and Chrysler. Thirty-two percent (32%) like the idea of the auto bailouts, but 58% don’t. These findings, too, are consistent with what voters have thought of the auto bailouts all along.

Government bailouts are one of the issues that have fueled populist anger over the past year. Seventy-three percent (73%) of those in the Political Class think the auto bailouts were a good idea. Response from those with populist or Mainstream views are just the opposite: 73% of this group see the auto bailouts as a bad idea. The numbers are nearly the same for the bailouts of the financial industry.

How do you know the Republican Party still has a lot of problems to solve before they can regain a majority in Congress? Rasmussen has the answer:

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP.

Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.

For this survey, the respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party. In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process—written by Republicans and Democrats—provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.

If Republicans are serious about regaining power, they’ve got to listen to the grassroots and get serious about fiscal issues. Free markets and individual liberty are more than just talking points, Republicans still don’t get it, as evidenced by the debate over ObamaCare when they touted Medicare Part D (a fiscal abortion) as proof they too can expand government.

A very interesting poll from Rasmussen:

Ben Bernanke begins the formal process tomorrow for confirmation to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but 41% of Americans think President Obama should name someone new to the post.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of adults believe the president should reappoint Bernanke to another four-year term. But a sizable 39% aren’t sure what the president should do.

In July, Americans were more closely divided over Bernanke’s reappointment: 26% thought it was a good idea, while 33% felt the president should name someone new. Even then, however, 41% were undecided.

(…)

Bernanke’s favorables continue to fall. Only 21% have at least a somewhat favorable view of the Fed chairman now, while 38% regard him unfavorably. His critics feel more strongly since 15% have a very unfavorable opinion of Bernanke, compared to three percent (3%) with a very favorable view. Forty percent (40%) don’t know enough about him to even venture a soft opinion, though.

(…)

Voters aren’t exactly happy campers right now:

Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 27% are not angry about the government’s policies, including 10% who are Not at All Angry.

The anger is there, but voters have a very short term memory. Come election time, either the primaries or general election, Republicans have to get these folks to trust them again. Harping on social issues is not going to resonate with the electorate. They’ve got to stick to fiscal issues.