Latest Rasmussen polls provide insight into Colorado voters’ thinking
March 9th, 2010
Gauging what is going on in Colorado voters’ minds can be a tough one. In a state with an evenly split electorate between Democrats, Republicans and independents, trying to get voters to agree is a lot like herding cats – not an easy task for sure.
The latest Rasmussen poll provides some interesting insights into what voters are thinking. One thing that is abundantly clear is that people are not pleased with the direction the nation is taking. Our elected leaders continue to ignore us and do as they see fit rather than doing the job they were hired to do – that of carrying out the will of the people they represent.
President Obama takes a big hit with 56% saying they somewhat or strongly disapprove of his performance. Closer to home, an astounding 63% somewhat or strongly disapprove of Governor Bill Ritter.
The health care debate continues to rage with the president and Congress seemingly intent on ramming it down our throats despite clear opposition. 56% of Coloradoans somewhat or strongly oppose the plan the president proposes and 51% rate the president’s handling of the issue as poor.
Most notably, 62% believe that passing smaller bills the are directed at specific problems is the way to go – completely counter to the proposals the president and Congress are trying to force on us.
In terms of our elected representatives, a plurality say that their representative in Congress is not the best person for the job. Similarly, a plurality says that their representative does not deserve to be reelected. Driving that point home, 60% say the country would be better off if most incumbents were defeated in November.
All of these results give the potential for a major shift in the nation at the end of the year. It shows that Americans are continuing to be entirely dissatisfied with their elected representatives and the steps they are taking to resolve our nation’s problems.
Congressman Jared Polis represents most of Thornton. Prior to his election he contacted me directly and assured me he would be a representative of his entire district, not just the left-leaning parts in Boulder. In his exact words he said, “I represent mainstream Adams County” and continued that he would represent “all the voters, U, D, and R.”
While there has been an occasion where he has upheld that pledge, those were early in his term and have slowly faded away. As a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus he has quickly shown just how far left he can go – and how quickly he has settled in with the Washington elite.
From health care to taxes to his lack of support for our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congressman Polis continues to shift further and further away from the moderate, center-right beliefs of the majority of citizens in our area.
Last month the revelations came that our congressman has made more than $400,000 in political contributions to his peers and liberal causes. Why? No doubt to curry greater favor with the D.C. establishment. This is very disheartening to see. For a man who ran claiming to be an outsider, he certainly has settled in well with the establishment.
- Remember to become a fan of Tony’s Rants on Facebook to stay up to date with the latest ‘rants.’ How many other blogs have their congressman respond directly to them?
Selected excerpts from the Rasumussen poll:
How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as President… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
26% Strongly approve
17% Somewhat approve
10% Somewhat disapprove
46% Strongly disapprove
1% Not sure
How would you rate the job Bill Ritter has been doing as Governor… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
14% Strongly approve
20% Somewhat approve
28% Somewhat disapprove
35% Strongly disapprove
3% Not sure
Generally speaking, do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and the congressional Democrats?
21% Strongly favor
22% Somewhat favor
7% Somewhat oppose
49% Strongly oppose
2% Not sure
How would you rate the way that Barack Obama has handled the issue of healthcare reform…excellent, good, fair or poor?
13% Excellent
18% Good
17% Fair
51% Poor
0% Not sure
What would be a better strategy to reform the healthcare system…passing a comprehensive bill that covers all aspects of the healthcare system or passing smaller bills that address problems individually?
28% Passing a comprehensive bill that cover all aspects of the healthcare system
62% Passing smaller bills that address problems individually
10% Not sure
When it comes to health care decisions, who do you fear the most: the federal government or private insurance companies?
48% Federal government
42% Private insurance companies
10% Not sure
Is your representative in Congress the best possible person for the job?
21% Yes
41% No
38% Not sure
Regardless of how Congress is doing overall, does your local representative in Congress deserve to be reelected?
29% Yes
44% No
27% Not sure
Generally speaking, would it better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were reelected this November or if most of them were defeated?
22% Better if most incumbents were reelected
60% Better if most incumbents were defeated
19% Not sure
On the net:
- Rasmussen: Toplines – Colorado Senate – March 2, 2010
- Denver Post: Polis doles out plenty to fellow lawmakers, gains clout
Related:
- CDOT never planned for additional general purpose lanes on I-25 in north area
- Some of Colorado’s congressional delegation refuse to be accountable to taxpayers
- Colorado Reps Vote to Continue Funding Corrupt ACORN
- Wall Street Journal: Washington is ‘terrifying us’
- Congress returns home for recess prepared to face constituents’ ire
Tony,
I don’t think I’ve met much of the “Washington establishment.” I pretty much just come to DC to work every monday and am back to Colorado as soon as I can on Thursday or Friday depending on the weekly schedule. I try to get to know and network with my colleagues, because you need 218 votes to pass a bill and personal relationships on both sides of the aisle help a lot.
If by Washington establishment you mean other members of Congress who’ve been here a long time, then yes, I do try to get to know them as the success of my legislative efforts frequently needs their goodwill.
Most of my bills are bipartisan bills, and my main bills are a charter school expansion bill, a bill to attract investments in American companies through targeted capital gains exemptions, and a re-write of the literacy act. Nearly all my bills have Republicans co-sponsors.
Here’s what the most popular political blog in the state recently said of me:
Like we’ve said consistently since Polis went off-reservation with this egotistical, ill-advised “revolt” in defense of a few percentage points from the richest Americans–if no bill passes this year, or a gutted bill deemed inadequate by the base, Polis will take a disproportionate amount of the blame. Everything he’s said disparagingly about the bill while claiming to support its overall goals–”your grandpa’s tax-and-spend Democrats,” “kill the goose that lays the ‘golden egg,’” “the worst way to pay for health reform”–will come back to haunt him if the effort fails
http://www.coloradopols.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10676
On issues like health care, I get attacked from the left and the right in my search for common ground.
With regards to Iraq and Afghanistan, I have been to both countries as part of a Congressional delegation, and have also attended classified briefings. My conclusion is that these ongoing occupations are not in the national security interests of the United States. The threat of terrorism is very real, but it is a stateless threat that calls for strong intelligence capacity and targeted special operations and strong intelligence. I don’t believe that the occupation of Afghanistan is consistent with our goals of fighting terrorism.
Thanks for posting the polling information!
Congressman Jared Polis
Congressman,
I for one won’t demonize you for learning how to be politically effective and getting to know your fellow congressman (a big part of being successful as a legislator).
However, It is clear that you seem to have forgotten that it isn’t them but US that you represent. It isn’t in the poles that you should look for wisdom. It is in judgement as to what has LONG-term/Rational positive implications for us as your constituents. I would ask for you to vote NO on anything that has negative effects that are directly caused by the bill.
I would like to think that your goal isn’t to protect us from ourselves but to give us free reign on what choices we can make to protect ourselves. We can choose anytime to not do business with a corporation but we are forced to follow your rules once imposed.
Please, for the sake of all of us, look at each bill and ask yourself if you will be happy in 50 years for voting for it. If you can’t say yes unequivocally to that then say No to the bill.
Thank you for your post.
I have no doubt contributions to others help to ‘grease the wheels’ on legislation for a Congressman. That is a sad statement about our government and one of the biggest problems today. It shouldn’t be necessary. All the talk about changing the ‘culture’ of Washington is just that – talk. I have given up and don’t believe it is possible.
> I would ask for you to vote NO on anything that has >negative effects that are directly caused by the bill.
Alas, almost every bill has some good and some bad. The hardest part of this job is weighing the good vs. the bad in each bill and making a decision. For instance with health care reform; I voted against one version of the bill in committee, and I voted for a later and better version of health care reform. In the bill I opposed there was still a lot of good things, and in the bill I supported there were still a lot of bad things.
>I would like to think that your goal isn’t to protect us >from ourselves but to give us free reign on what >choices we can make to protect ourselves. We can >choose anytime to not do business with a corporation >but we are forced to follow your rules once imposed.
Well put from a philosophical perspective. Unfortunately the world is full of gray areas; if there is only one corporation that is a monopoly, then there is no choice for you. Likewise, it’s not my personal business whether you drive a gas guzzler or a hybrid, but the sum of all the decisions made by Americans leads to our reliance on foreign oil and need to change our energy policy.
Congressman Jared Polis
Congressman,
I can appreciate the fact that bills can be hard to weigh, but the fact is that we elect you to represent us. Any damage done by a law is damage that can and should be avoided.
First, do no harm.
The only monopolies in the USA are ones that are legislated monopolies. Meaning, laws force them to be monopolies.
Example-
-The Federal Reserve Bank- monopoly on money supply
-Excel Energy – my only option for purchasing electricity
I could list several more but I think you get the point. Those companies are so heavily regulated (at least I would imagine there is oversight on the Fed. Reserve, even if it is invisible to me) that they no longer compete to offer their product. You didn’t address the only monopoly that I mentioned in my last post. Government has a monopoly on legal force. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that if the laws are moral in nature. Which brings me back to the first principle mentioned earlier. First, do no harm.
I can list thousands of laws that are outright hostile to the common good and have no moral foundation/justification for being passed.
So in short, you and the other representatives before you, have failed in your most basic function. That being the representation of our best interest.
When does it stop? When will you see that your paycheck is only justified if you earn it by doing what you were sent to do? What can we do to help you see the damage being done on a daily basis?
So again, I’m asking you to look at each bill and not let yourself be party to damaging legislation. Only vote yes on bills that you know you can sleep soundly in 50 years knowing you supported.
Your failure to do so will be my grief and my children’s grief. We will be forced by the biggest monopoly armed with the most sophisticated tools to pay all costs of bad judgement imposed by our ‘representatives.’ Help me regain faith in a Republic.
Thanks again for taking the time to respond earlier
I’m 26 years old, US Marine Iraq War Vet, husband, and father of one with one more one the way.
Most politicians see no benefit behind responding to any real critics on a public forum so they choose to ignore them and the concerns put forth.
I think that you may be different and brave enough to do so. But if not feel free to contact me personally for your response.
Micah Marmaro
micah.marmaro@gmail.com
Micah,
Thank you for your service to our country. You are correct that the Fed is a monopoly, and I am a co-sponsor of a bill to audit them and open to additional reforms. Utilities are also a near-monopoly.
Monopolies could and would arise in other industries without anti-trust laws that are enforced. That is a proper role of the federal government to prevent one company from controlling a market and using their power to eliminate competition through dumping, slotting fees and contracts, or other unfair trade practices.
>I can list thousands of laws that are outright hostile >to the common good and have no moral >foundation/justification for being passed.
Well, what you may think is outright hostile to the common good or has no moral justification is what someone else might think the opposite of. I’m sure we agree on some issues and disagree on others, but I always have a moral foundation for my positions and am only here doing this work in Congress based on the opportunity I was given for two years to fight for the common good. I post my positions on issues and did so before being elected as well, and if people elect me I will pursue the policies that I ran on, subject to new information changing my mind.
Thanks for posting,
Congressman Jared Polis
As always, Congressman, thank you for taking the time to stop by. Certainly you and I will not see eye to eye on a lot of things but I definitely take note of your willingness to engage your constituents – I suspect that is a rarity.
I do know that you have a bit of a rebel streak on some issues and are ready to depart from the party line. I do however differ considerably on issues like a public option for health care and definitely on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For health care, I simply do not understand the desire to trash the entire system. That makes no sense. Are there parts that are broken? Absolutely yes. Let’s try fixing what we know is broke before throwing the baby out with the bath water. Allow insurance companies to compete across state lines, truly implement tort reform, and a few other things.
As the polls show, the American people want reform – they don’t want an entirely new system. With the exception of national defense, there is very little that the government has shown they are capable of handling with even moderate competency. Why, if the U.S. government is incapable of handling Social Security and Medicare, do we think they can run the entire health care system?
I get very disheartened when I see that you have to make ‘donations’ to gain influence. That is sad and it is wrong and it should not have to be done. It speaks to the very core of what is wrong with Washington.
On Wednesday Representative Polis backed a resolution that calls for the removal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan within 30 days. Is this really realistic? Is it the smart thing? This might play in Boulder, California, and a few other places but not too many others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uupJq8d8EwI