CNN has a new poll out in their Broken Government series showing that the American public is tired of partisanship and wants the Democrats to take the first step in fixing it,
Even though more people think Republicans are not doing enough to reach bipartisan consensus, 54 percent believe the Democratic party should take the first step toward developing bipartisan solutions to the country’s problems, the survey says. Forty-two percent say the GOP should take that first step.
The implicit suggestion here is that the solution to the country’s problems lies in striking the right bipartisan balance in plans and actions moving forward. I am skeptical about this claim.
Let me be clear, I think that Americans think that they want bipartisanship as a means to solving the country’s problems and that that is what these poll results show. But what I think is really at heart here, as the series title indicates, is that a majority of Americans feel their government is broken and they’re angry about it.
I would hearken back to the poll I noted last week around general levels of trust with regards to government and note one of the following findings,
When asked about Congressional job approval, only 15 percent of respondents thought Congress was effective, down 8 percentage points from January and near the low of 12 percent in October 2008, when the economy was on the brink of collapse and the George W. Bush administration was entering its final year in office.
The key word there for me is effective. When I see that a vast majority of Americans feel that their Congress — and I wouldn’t imagine the Senate fairing much better — is ineffective, what I read from that is a feeling that government is doing what it’s suppose to do. It isn’t getting its work done. Now, I admit that I’m reading between the lines here, so take this as you will.
But if we dig deeper into that poll, we also find the following results:
Understands your needs and problems: Obama – 60%, Democrats – 42%, Republicans, 35%
Meaning that a clear majority and a new majority of people polled think that the President and Democrats understand their needs and problems, but that an overwhelming majority feel that government has failed to be effective in addressing those needs and problems.
I would offer that part of what has been holding the President and Democrats back in terms of real, timely action and fulfilling things like mandates and campaign promises has been an over developed concern with achieving bipartisan consensus on various issues. In fact, in a Gallup poll back in September, a majority of respondents continued to credit the President with engaging in sincere bipartisan efforts.
The conclusion here — at least by my lights — is that efforts towards bipartisanship, if they haven’t hurt the effectiveness of government, certainly have not helped it. And if the American public is serious about wanting an “effective” government that can get things done, it needs to come to grips with the fact that that likely isn’t a bipartisan focused government that is primarily concerned with political kabuki.
Will Truman 
Patrick Cahalan 
Cornelius 
wardsmith 
Tod Kelly 
Tom Van Dyke 
Murali 
James Hanley 
Borat: “I do a picture, only small, of the Tishnik Masacre. Where many Uzbeks…crushed!”
Kindly Gray Hippie: “How did you feel when you drew this?”
Borat: “Very proud!”.
KGH: “I’m just listening with sadness…a little sadness for your people…?”
Borat: “Yes…no, it is not sad. It is us who do the kill!”
When in doubt,
{ 4 comments }
You can’t draw conclusions about effectiveness or bipartisanship from the polls, only about perceptions of those things. There’s a big difference.
Nice long drawn out way of saying simply that Americans like winners. If Obama gets something done the arguement that it was done without bipartisan support will not bother the voters much. The only real value of bipartisanship is in two stages, either in the lobbying for public support (this bill is awsome, peeps from both parties like it!) or in getting political cover (don’t blame me, both parties supported it!). Far far above bipartisanship your average low info voter likes winners. If Obama is seen to win, to get his bill through, to defeat the bill he doesn’t like etc etc etc… then he gets considered effective. Whether he did this bipartisanly or not is not salient unless the whole thing blows up in his face.
By the same token, I think it’s particularly useful to break down ‘the American people.’
I would say broadly, American want their government to work, conservatives want competent torturers and liberals want competent government paid doctors to care for poor people. However, the all-revered “independents” are rather suspicious of ideology and ‘politicking,’ arguably important things in national politics. So, bipartisanship, looks like serious work for the mushy middle because it’s not focused on how terrible the other side is, even if it accomplishes little to nothing. Because majorities are won or lost on the power of this group of voters, their outsized valuation of “bipartisan seriousness” makes it more politically relevant than it might be in a broader context.
For future reference, I am wholeheartedly in favor of more “Princess Bride”-inspired titles.
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