Here are some highlights from the just-released CBS/NY Times poll:*Only 28% of Americans feel favorably towards the Republican Party, while 58% feel unfavorably. That's a -30 rating, the worst ever in the CBS/NY Times poll going back to 1985. Nice job, Eric Cantor!
*In contrast, 57% of Americans hold favorable views of the Democratic Party, with just 32% holding unfavorable views, for a net +25 rating. That's the lowest unfavorable and highest favorable rating for the Democrats since February 2000.
*44% say the country's heading in the "right direction," vs. 50% who say it's on the "wrong track." That compares to a 7%-89% right track/wrong track rating when Bush/Cheney were still in charge last October.
*Overwhelmingly, Americans think that the economy and jobs are the most important problems facing our nation today. Nothing else is in single digits, with "health care" at 7% the only other issue to break out of low single digits.
*Regarding Barack Obama, Americans approve of his performance in general (63%-26%), on the economy (57%-35%), on foreign policy (59%-23%), and on terrorism (57%-24%).
*Americans are more evenly divided on whether they approve of Obama's handling of specific issues, like health care (44%-34% approval) and "the problems facing the auto industry" (41%-46%).
*Only 2% of Americans say that the budget deficit is the nation's top problem, but when asked, only 30% say that the Obama administration has a clear plan to deal with it. I tend to agree that, as of now, there's no clear plan to tackle the big budget items - entitlements (Medicare, Social Security) and defense spending - in order to bring down the budget deficit. That's going to be a major challenge as soon as we get past the "great recession" we're now in...
*Speaking of the economy, only 1% of Americans say it's in "very good" shape, with just 14% saying it's in "fairly good" shape. The vast majority say that the economy is "fairly bad" (48%) or "very bad" (36%). Unfortunately, I have a feeling it may take a while to dig ourselves out of the mess we found ourselves in after 8 years of Bush/Cheney/DeLay Republican economic policies. Let's just make damn sure we don't return to those policies
