The latest Washington Post poll, which was released this morning, paints a very unkind picture for Republicans and the results were tallied before Paul Ryan reintroduced the Path to Poverty in its third incarnation.
via Greg Sargent
* 72 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of independents and 81 percent of moderates, disapprove of the Congressional GOP.
* Americans disapprove of the sequester cuts by 53-39; 64 percent say they’ll hurt the economy; 60 percent say they’ll hurt the government’s ability to provide basic services; and 69 percent say they’ll hurt the military.
* Americans hold Congressional Republicans responsible for the sequester cuts by 47-33.
* 68 percent want Obama and the GOP to work together to avert the cuts, while only 28 percent want them to continue (the conservative position).
* 71 percent oppose cutting spending on Medicaid to replace the cuts; and 60 percent oppose raising the Medicare eligibility age to replace them. By contrast, 58 percent support replacing the cuts with more targeted cuts to military spending.
As always, if you poll Americans on a generic subject such as whether or not they are liberal or conservative, a majority will respond that they are conservative. But if you poll Americans on individual issues, or in the case individual economic issues, they tend to lean toward the left.
According to Speaker Boehner, Americans agree with the principles of the Ryan budget. Just don’t ask them about the details or you may learn than 71 percent do not believe in block-granting Medicaid.