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With the Senate's final approval of President Obama's compromise tax deal -- and with the House expected to take up the measure tomorrow -- nearly 60 percent approve of its major components, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.
When respondents were told that the agreement would extend the Bush-era tax cuts -- for all income levels, including the wealthy -- for two years in exchange for a one-year extension of unemployment benefits and a temporary reduction of payroll taxes, 59 percent say they approve the deal and 36 disapprove.
What's more, 61 percent believe the agreement was a fair compromise for both President Obama and Republican leaders, while 23 percent think Obama gave up too much and 10 percent say Republicans gave up too much.
Yet the poll also shows that Democrats and liberals are slightly more opposed to the deal than their counterparts are -- but not significantly.
In the poll, Democrats approve the deal by a 54-to-41 percent margin, and liberals by 57-41 percent.
That's compared with 68-29 percent among Republicans; 60-35 percent among conservatives; 60-36 percent among independents; and 62-34 percent among moderates.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Dec. 9-13 of 1,000 adults (including 200 reached by cellphone), and the margin of error for these two questions is plus-minus 4.4 percentage points.
The Senate approved the deal Wednesday by an 81-19 vote.
The rest of the poll will be released beginning at 6:30 pm ET.
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After watching the throng of people at the Loncoln Memorial supporting a selfish ass?ole like Glenn Beck, I fear the American people are so confused and ignorant of what is really going on in the country, that they are questionably not competent to express a credible opinion on much of anything.
Rock bottom is when he is in jail for treason against the American people and celling with Big Bubba.
Rock bottom is when he is in jail for treason against the American people and celling with Big Bubba.
More trickle down BS. Spare the rod and spoil the child mentality.
What a shame that people are dumb enough to believe that increasing the debt is a good thing for the country. You see those austerity programs in Europe? I bet we end up do the European Shake and have draconian cuts that everyone will hate. Cut now, save pain later!
60% of Americans have IQs in the low 90s. YOU WANT PROOF? When I state that Americans Read, Write and Comprehend at an 8th Grade Level, I wasn't just "venting", I'm serious, and I'm afraid!. The normal IQ for a creative person is 120. The overall average IQ in America is 98. The range is 94-110. The masses are turning out to be bungling idiots, content on their menial 9-5 jobs, their nightly ration of beer and Saturday afternoon football. They will raise the flag and go to war when the leaders tell them to, and they won’t question the order. The big business interests have got people right where they want them. They have turned Americans into a nation of slaves, content and/or scared enough to work for minimum wages with no benefits so the wealthy can get even richer. THESE ARE FACTS, EASILY CHECKED! The people who voted for Bush and the Republicans are most likely the low IQ, low wage earners, with sons and daughters off fighting an unjust war, struggling to make ends meet, and desperate for health benefits promised but that they will never have again. What is worse, they lack the intelligence to understand their plight.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE; WE ARE FINISHED! GOOGLE AMERICAN IQ LEVEL AND TAKE YOUR PICK!
so how do we fix stupid?
I am appalled. everyone brags about the courage and intelleigence of the electorate. We are drowning in debt. Our children and grand-children's future is already mortgaged to the hilt. The Bush tax cuts should die. We should face the consequences and see what happens. Live with it. If the money raised by these taxes do no more than ease the burden on our families down the road, we should be proud.
The Democrats lost their opportunity to make real changes and fix the tax code. All they needed to do is let the Bush tax cuts lapse and the Internal Revenue Code would revert to the 2001 tax rates. It would have been the Republicans doing, for crying out loud! The new Congress will no longer be Democrat-controlled. Income taxes will never be increased now. And the Federal government will just continue its irresponsible deficit spending and borrowing. This cannot go on forever. The day of reckoning will be terrible. Think Depression and wheel barrows full of depreciated currency.
Not sure what's so hard to understand here - extending tax cuts does not create a deficit - spending does. It's fiscally irresponsible to plan a budget off of 'anticipated revenue', especially one with earmarks in it. The government simply needs to cut spending. Afterall, it's the role of the government to govern, NOT provide.
Also, I'm not rich, but Capatilism works. That's why we all have the freedoms and opportunities in front of us. Russia collapsed and Europe is in a much bigger mess thanks to thier socialist views. The Rich pay more in taxes under a flat tax and consume the same amount, if not less, resources than the middle-class or poor. Why should thier percentage points go up? Because you're too lazy to pick up a book, better yourself or work harder? It's pathetic and it's not the government that weakens us - it's you lazy pieces of garbage that have your hands out. In reality, you're not entitled to your next breath of air, let alone someone else's paycheck. Man up or move to France.
Hello! Earth to snoodles.......
You say "extending tax cuts does not create a deficit."
Did you sleep through your math classes in high school, or did you drop out before then?
When you already have a deficit (about 1.4 Trillion) left over from the previous administration, then extending a tax cut that would help to defray the costs of servicing the already outstanding debt clearly deepens the deficit.
Had the current administration started out with budget surpluses (as the previous administration did) then your premise would be true - but only up to the point where the surplus was exhausted by the tax cuts, and then they started resulting in debt. At that point they absolutely create and continue to increase deficits.
In simple terms that you should be able to understand: Every dollar of uncollected taxes (read tax cuts) directly becomes a dollar of deficit when there is no previously existing surplus to cover it.
Guess who are the producers of the stuff you buy.....the rich. Rich never actually pay taxes they pass it along to the consumers so when taxes go up ALL THE PRICES YOU PAY GO UP!!!!!! If you cant afford the prices you cant buy the products so the riches profits go down in flames and so does government revenue. Tax hikes dont do much good then now do they?
ps im speaking as a middle class citizen
The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor. How is THAT fair? People need to wake up and research before they answer these (often misleading) polls.
The estate tax, first enacted in 1916, was never intended to be simply a device for raising revenue. Rather, it was meant to address the phenomenon of a small number of Americans controlling large amounts of the country’s wealth — which was considered a national problem.
I think we all know that the advanced countries are marked by the strong base of middle class, which ensures persistent economic vitality.
But Americans seem little inclined to resist wealth concentration. Efforts to impose taxes geared to the wealthy are lambasted as promoting class warfare.
Reacting to Republican opposition United for a Fair Economy, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization, issued the following statement:
"In the last decade, we've seen a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the rich, and tax policy has been a big driver of that," said Mike Lapham, director of UFE's Responsible Wealth project. "Extending the Bush tax cuts would give the average millionaire over $100,000 per year. Extending those tax cuts will do nothing to create jobs. Business owners make decisions about hiring based on demand, not based on their tax rate. By contrast, when middle class people get tax cuts, they spend it and that creates jobs. Republicans are blocking tax cuts for the real job creators – 98% of Americans, the vast middle class – in order to extend extra tax giveaways to the rich."
And added, "Republicans claim they are for fiscal responsibility, but they would like to repeal the estate tax, at a cost of $700 billion over 10 years. Republicans aren't concerned about growing wealth inequality, even though it hurts our country's economic growth and health, and is now the worst it's been since 1928. They opposed Sen. Baucus' bill, which sets the estate tax exemption at $7 million for a married couple, with a 45% rate on amounts above that. A stronger estate tax, with higher rates on billionaires, would do more to curb that wealth inequality and bring more broadly shared prosperity to all."