In case you’re feeling the blues after last night’s elections, the Progressive States Network’s put together an interesting analysis of several polls taken in the last few months. The bottom line: “Progressive Values Dominant– But [We] Need to Rebuild Trust in Effectiveness of Government Action.” Some highlights:
•Six in 10 Americans believe that “government should do more to promote the common good,” versus 37 percent who feel that “government should do more to promote individual liberty.” (”CAP-beliefs”)•57 percent of Americans believe that “freedom requires economic opportunity and minimum measures of security, such as food, housing, medical care and old age protection,” compared to 38 percent who favor the idea that “freedom requires that individuals be left alone to pursue their lives as they please and to deal with the consequences of their actions on their own.” (”CAP-beliefs”)…
•Opposition to Corporate Power: 77% of Americans say that “there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies” and a 62% majority says businesses make too much profit. (See chart from Pew) As far as Wall Street’s overall impact, 49% believe that it “often hurts the economy more than helps it;” only 37% disagreed with this negative assessment of Wall Street.(Pew)
•Ending Economic Inequality: The public does not accept the idea that present economic inequality is natural and earned by the wealthy on their own. 60% of the public agree that “Rich people like to believe they have made it on their own, but in reality society has contributed greatly to their wealth” – with 30% strongly agreeing with this; 62% believe “The gap between rich and poor should be reduced, even if it means higher taxes for the wealthy” – with 38% strongly agreeing. (CAP-beliefs)…
•Need for Regulation of Business: 73% believe “Government regulations are necessary to keep businesses in check and protect workers and consumers”- with 32% strongly agreeing. (CAP-beliefs) 59% believe “Government must step in to protect the national economy when the market fails” – with 27% strongly agreeing (CAP-beliefs)
•Necessity of Labor as Counter to Corporate Power: Roughly six-in-ten (61%) agree that “labor unions are necessary to protect the working person;” 34% disagree, although there has been erosion in union support in the last few years….
•Environment: 67% believe “America must play a leading role in addressing climate change by reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions and complying with international agreements on global warming” – with 38% strongly agreeing. (CAP-beliefs). 83% believe “There needs to be stricter environmental laws and regs to protect the environment.” However, the economic crisis means there are more worries about the costs of environmental enforcement– a majority (51%) support protecting the environment “even if it causes slower economic growth) but that is less than in 2007 (when 66% held that position). (Pew)•Health Care: 65% believe that government “should guarantee affordable health coverage for every American” – with 44% strongly agreeing. (CAP-beliefs).
What about the young ‘uns? Even better news:
The Coming Millennial Revolution in American Politics: Voters born since 1978 — the so-called Millennial Generation – voted for Obama by a margin of 66% to 32%, but that is, according to the Center for American Progress, only part of a “deeper story of a generation with progressive views in all areas and big expectations for change that will fundamentally reshape our electorate.” Millennial voters eligible to vote are increasing by about 4 million a year– by 2020, there will be 90 million Millennial eligible voters, just under just under 40 percent of America’s eligible voters.On specific issues, Millennials are more progressive than the population as a whole (the following is from the CAP-Millennial report):
•On health care, 71% of Millennials support a federal government guarantee of health care coverage for all Americans, compared to 65 percent among the total population.
•On the minimum wage, 63% of Millennials ranked raising the minimum wage as a top priority, compared to 54 percent of the total population.
•On taxation, 60 percent of Millennials said raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year will be good for the economy, compared to 47 percent of the general population who said it would be good for the economy.
•On labor unions, 75 percent of Millennial voters agree that labor unions are necessary to protect the working person, compared to 64 percent of 30- to 59-year-olds and 66 percent of people over 60.
But there’s one big obstacle — many moderate voters have lost confidence in government.
Part of the problem is, ironically, the broad criticism of corporate power in our society, since 65% of the public believes “Government policies too often serve the interests of corporations and the wealthy” – with 34% strongly agreeing. (CAP-beliefs) However, this is combined with a deeper skepticism of government effectiveness, with 61% of the public believing that “government spending is almost always wasteful and inefficient” – with 30% strongly agreeing. (CAP- beliefs). This is similar to Pew numbers finding 57% believing government is “usually inefficient and wasteful.”(Pew) Given the institutional and seemingly purposeful incompetence of conservative leadership in Washington, D.C. that mired us in Iraq and allowed Hurricane Katrina to devastate a city, that skepticism is hardly surprising. Filibusters in Washington, D.C. are just one more element that feeds the perception fed by the right-wing of government ineffectiveness.The end result is that, despite supporting many progressive policies in practice, slight majorities end up opting in the abstract for anti-government beliefs, such as:
•57% believe “Free market solutions are better than government at creating jobs and economic growth” with 25% strongly agreeing.(CAP-beliefs)
•55% believe “Limited government is always better than big government” – with 31% strongly agreeing.(CAP-beliefs)
Rising Support for Government Action: Still, Pew found that skepticism of government has eroded in the last two years, no doubt due to the economic crisis. While a small majority (55%) still fears that “the federal government controls too much of our daily lives”, that is down from 64% back in 2007. Notably, fears over the inefficiency of government spending, while still strong, are far less than in the early 1990s and less even than two years ago.(See graph from Pew to the right).
So while in the theory, the public has reservations about government action, Pew finds strong support (62%) for the idea that “a free market economy needs govt regulation in order to best serve the public interest.” (Pew) And the overwhelming support for government acting to make health care more affordable means only 46% agree that they are “concerned about the govt becoming too involved in health care.”…
Crucially, young voters are notably less cynical about the effectiveness of government as a tool for achieving those progressive goals. When asked in the 2008 National Election Study whether the free market can handle key problems without government’s involvement, Millennials instead demonstrated an overwhelming preference for strong government by a margin of 78 to 22 percent. 63 percent of Millennials in surveys believer that “government needs to do more to address the major challenges facing our country,” while only 37% agree that “government is already too involved in areas that are better left to individuals or the free market” (CAP-Millennial) Similarly, Pew shows that young people have far more belief that government can be effective, with only 43% of those under 30 saying government is inefficient, compared with 64% of those 65 and older. Just 39% of those under 30 say they are worried about the involvement of government in health care, while 53% of those 65 and older do so. (Pew)
How to get around this problem?
The key is to avoid falling into the trap of talking about government in the abstract, where the public retains some skepticism, but instead to emphasize existing public structures like schools or other concrete programs that people support and see working every day.
Of course, none of this means anything if politicians wimp out. As Kos said, given that GOP turnout stayed steady but Dems turnout dropped, yesterday’s lessons were:
If you water down reform in favor of Blue Dogs and their corporate benefactors, you will lose votes.If you forget why you were elected — health care, financial services, energy policy and immigration reform — you will lose votes.
