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As Republicans and the White House continue to jostle over the "fiscal cliff," the public remains pessimistic about a solution and is largely prepared to blame the GOP if no agreement is reached.
A new poll from the Pew Research Center and the Washington Post shows that only four in 10 adults believe that the two sides will hammer out an agreement to dodge the fiscal cliff by its Jan. 1 deadline, while nearly half (49 percent) believe no deal will get done in time.
The $2.2 trillion proposal floated by House Speaker John Boehner was shot down by the White House, which said Republicans' rejection of tax hikes for the wealthy and sweeping cuts to popular social programs are unacceptable. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
What's more -- in a trend surely being eyed by the Obama administration -- the public still appears ready to place blame for the impasse on congressional Republicans over the White House by a nearly 2-1 margin.
With a divide similar to public perceptions earlier in November, 53 percent of those surveyed said they would point the finger at the GOP for the failure of the negotiations, while just 27 percent say the president would be at fault.
The fiscal cliff counter-offer issued by House Republicans has one thing in common with last week's White House proposal – neither was designed to win any bipartisan support. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
While Democrats surveyed are far more optimistic than Republicans about an agreement (by 55 to 22 percent), all partisan groups appear uncertain about exactly what the consequences of the cliff's automatic spending cuts and tax increases could be. Only about a third of adults overall say they understand the effects of the fiscal cliff "very well," but over 60 percent say those effects will have a "major effect" on the US economy. But not as many respondents think that a tumble over the cliff will dramatically affect their own lives, with 43 percent saying the cuts and taxes would have a "major effect" on their personal finances and 35 percent labeling the consequences "minor" in their own lives.
Yuri Gripas / Reuters
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks during a GOP news conference on the "fiscal cliff", on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 28, 2012.
The survey was conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2 among 1,003 adults. It has a 3.7 percent margin of error among its overall sample of adults.
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The Republicans are entirely responsible for this fiscal mess to start with: two wars on credit, Bush's tax cuts and
the undying LIE that tax cuts for the rich stimulate growth. These people are trying to dismantle our country under the guise of saving it from the Democrats so they can have complete control to instill the fascist regime they desire. And by the way, if the Rebulicans gain control they will be very swift in gun control to avoid the revolution that will follow.
You are still being misled by the left! If the Bush tax cuts were so slanted toward "the wealthy", why will the left fight to the death to make sure they expire only on the wealthy!!?? Doesn't this tell you that someone or a bunch of someones doesn't believe that they were primarily for the wealthy?? Why has the left told you that these were massive tax cuts for millionaire and billionaires but when they argue that they should expire only on the top earners, they say we should ask the wealthy to "pay just a little bit more"? Are we talking about the same tax cuts? These are questions a rational person would ask but you are not rational!!!
Just a little factoid for you all
Bohner won with 99% of the vote....
Gee Auntie Anna, that doesn't say much for the intellect of his constituency, does it.
Obama won with about 52% of the vote. Doesn't say much for the intelligence of about 52% of the American people does it?
See how that works both ways?
It is time to begin criminally charging the republicans for malfeasance, treason and and RICO violations.
In the end historically, it will be the president who will be blamed . Who remembers who was in control of the senate and house at the start of the depression good old Herbert Hoover. So he got the blame.
I wonder what percentage of the people who will blame the House Republicans for the problem if we fall off the fiscal cliff actually voted for the very Republicans who will push us off the cliff.
In the end historically, it will be the president who will suffer the blame. Practically no one remembers who was in or in charge of the Senate and the house during the great depression. But practically everyone who knows their history remembers it was Herbert Hoover at the start of the great depression. So sadly it will be the president who will suffer historically if the country goes in to another recession. So let's just hope that our politicians put aside their egos and come to a good agreement for the country. We cannot go on spending like a drunken sailor, because we must save something for children.
Don't kid yourselves. During the Great Depression there was nosuch thing as the internet which has spawned lasting hatred between progressives and the wingnuts and you can take that one to the Bank.
What really is going on is the incompetent idiot Obama thinking that he has to do whatever he can to save the 47%... Remember those lazy sponges that do nothing to support society and ONLY take away, THUS the deficit producing Obama-care, the costs for educating the over breeding sponges from Mexico that ALSO contribute ZILCH to America and ONLY take from it as well. Then you have the Muslims that think this country should support them and their baby killing mindset, JUST like Jamie Foxx's Lord and Savior the Anti-Christ Muslim Obama. But then I suppose he is ALSO the fault of Bush and the Conservatives who see the Left's RECKLESS spending to appease the life sucking sponges that do NOTHING for this country.. Long live the Lord and Savior of Islam... Barrack Obama the Biggest Sponge of them ALL.
@at Risk, whether you realize it or not you're one of the 47%.
Your vocabulary is very impressive and reinforces exactly how intellectually deficient you are:
idiot Obama/lazy sponges/over-breeding sponges/baby killing mindset/anti-Christ Muslim Obama/life sucking sponges/Lord and SaviourofIslam/Biggest sponge of them all...
Thanks for your thoughtful, well-reasoned, imbecilic contributions to this discussion!
Wrong, you don't have a clue. If you're not a total idiot, provide some proof of your findings. Show us, that you're not dumb enough to be repeating faux or rush, with no proof, or no thinking involved. robMe got the 47%, even with the 5% voter suppression. Please assure us, you're not being trained by faux, rush, or any other non-thinker.
What are the chances, that Grover has an inappropriate male-to-male sexual relationship hold over these repubs. And they are afraid of the scandal, which is really between them and their spouse. Now that some of that behavior is tolerated, even accepted, why still hold unto that pledge, unless you're still dating him.
i hate repeating myself, but here goes. we need to impeach boehner, and all that support him, he seems to have gone completely out of his mind. he doesn't want to help the american people, he just wants to fatten his own pocket, and the rich that are helping him keep his job. and those of you that don't see it must have blinders on, he is trying to become king. there are no kings in the USA. get off your asses and support the little people, the rich dont need support.
Actually, I think replacing ALL the leadership on both sides would be best. None of them are listening to the people, nor to each other.
@Melanieerenee, that's a cop out. Obstructionism is the reason nothing is getting done and if you've been reading the news for the past 3+ years you'll know who the culprit is.
There are lots of culprits. One of the biggest, who is overlooked by most liberals, is Senate Majority Harry Reid. Harry decides what bills go on the senate calendar and come to the floor for debate and vot e in the Senate. Many bills passed by the House of Representatives, including budget bills, submitted to the Senate never get on the Senate calendar. Now that is obstructionism!
nh_shellback,
The House bills sent to the Senate included the Ryan budget. You know, the on that put Medicare on vouchers. That is why Reid did not bring it to the Senate floor. Don't forget the fillibuster, 300+, on any thing the Democrates put forward.
What is the big deal about raising the retirement age to 67? It's only two more years- my dad is still working and doing fine! As a 40-something who is resigned to the fact that Social Security and Medicare as we know it today will cease to exist in the coming years, I would jump at the chance to invest my money for retirement rather than giving it to a government that obviously cannot handle it properly.
melanieerenee,
Yup, raise the age. I am 68 and cannot retire because I cannot afford too. My cousin is 58 and is in construction. His body wont make it to 67 before he has to retire. Nice call. Not all of us sit at desks.
The president regardless of which party is not a political liar but a blatent liar who won, a high school popularity contest, election. The fiscal cliff is caused by a congress and presidential programs being passed into law with out proper funding. One can only do so much within the llimits of the funds available. In this case taxes, taxes cost King George a very large portion of North America. Wasteful government agencies such as the department of education which along with the justice department did away with neighborhood schools. Where the teachers new your parents and were able in some kind of non verbal agreement to teach morality to studens. Not today we try to produce everything like and industry. Some of these new teachers today think Dept of Ed pays part of their salary, no local propery taxes do that as they always have except the school district is under the hammer to apply and federal mandates or what the army shows and and guns you down. We waste money on and Energy Dept and Enviornmental protection agency. When I was a kid on Puget Sound we could eat the fish and clams even though raw sewage was entering the waters.. Today with the billions spent by E
PA we cant eat the shell fish and regualr fish have worms.
Of course the Republicans would be blamed. After hearing for almost 6 years now how Bush policies were so destructive, President Obama has now convinced folks that tax cuts are building the middle-class out and deficit spending in investing in America's future.
We'll see if the Republicans put the best interest of the public or the upper 2% first. The story will soon be told...
It is about damn Time the Public lay the Blame where it belongs on this Continued Economic Debacle on the Country at the Republicans' Feet.
Mitch McConnell still plans on BLOCKING ANY AND EVERYTHING to Spite President Obama and being Sore Losers over the Election because they decided to get behind an INEPT CANDIDATE.
Can you imagine where the Economy would be if the GOP/TEA had decided to help GOVERN the President Get the Country back on Economic Footing INSTEAD OF ROOTING FOR ECONOMIC FAILURE to Block this President? a MESS THEY CAUSED.
There will be people on here who will say you are still living in the PAST. Well the Republicans are HELPING THE PAST to keep Biting us in the A$$ on a Mess they caused. The MESS THEY CAUSED THE Country will take more than 2 Presidencies to Clean up. However, it would go Faster if GOP/TEA cared more about the Country then BLACKMAILING AND HOSTAGE TAKING OF THE COUNTRY rather then help the President GOVERN.
Even those low INFORMATION VOTERS, Average Americans, who vote Republican against their own INTEREST should be tired of their PERSONAL ECONOMIC INTERESTS being SKEWED to PROTECT THE RICH from Paying Taxes.
Wall Street knows better than anyone that if they CANNOT GET THEIR MONEY off of the Sides lines and start Consumers to Buy thus more Investment, they may as well keep it Off Shore, because this Country will be so STAGNANT, WHERE WILL MONEY GO.
The Plutocrats are SEEING IF THE REPUBLICANS have a Bigger Stick than President Obama when it comes to who will blink First. They recognized that they have made even more money since he came to Office and yet they too JADED and are waiting to see if Republicans can help them to get their way so they can CONTINUE TO POLLUTE the Country, and RUN RAMPANT with Everyone's Money and squeeze the MIDDLE CLASS. The Poor, to them they will just be throw-away People.
When you think that we have the Rich like Romney, and a Congressperson in the Person of Ryan who think, Urban, and 47% of the Country are nothing but Freeloaders, Moochers, and the NEANANDERTHALS ON FOX, like Bill O'Reilly, who is keeping up the Call. Enough said.
So, I am WAITING ON REPUBLICAN VOTERS TO tell these NEANDERTHALS that they have had enough. For some of them, I know, HELL WILL HAVE TO FREEZE OVER.
The GOP has only one interest,...one focus,...one idea,....one plan,...tax breaks for the wealthy.
For a fact, this is the elast productive congress in decades. They have no other purpose or value,...they are simply a watchdog for corporate welfare.
The people are watching and taking note,...we will make them pay "dearly" at the next election.
The people spoke, yet the GOP refuses to yield.
The GOP WILL be to blame if they drive the country off the fiscal cliff !!!
Yes, Serfdom 101......The GOP WILL get the blame, so they might as well get out of the way and let your messiah prez do the driving off the cliff. Give him exactly what he wants.....higher taxes, more spending and no cuts.
Before President Clueless (who probably can't balance a checkbook) finishes his 2nd term, we will have already reached the point where nobody is going to lend us money anymore, and they won't want our U.S. dollar anymore, because we will be continuing to print new money out of thin air, and no country will let us pay for imports or oil with our worthless dollar.
Anyone out there without a gun in your house better get one. There is going to be rioting in the streets that will make the riots in Greece, Italy and Spain look like child's play. Unlike those societies, ours is armed to the teeth.
beangrinder
You sound like Palin, or was it Angle, with the 2nd Ammendment response. You know, if I don't agree, you will just shoot me.
Not even within the folder on women do Republican's get it. By focusing on the covert (actually overt) operations of Newt Gingrich, Sidney Sheldon, Koch Bros, Grover Norquist and Donald Racists Trump, their ideals no longer mirror the reasoning majority, and thus will dissolve their own party accordingly. The declaration "for the people by the people" has cycled itself back into power, and currently on the trajectory to reach within the walls of the most deceitful, sinister party in of all, along with their poor-me Citizens Supreme Court Conservative payoff/back. We voted for Obama, he has a our mandate authority. Now get out to the way, at least until we vote all of you out next election.
Debt ceiling has NO effect on us paying our creditors. Our constitution mandates that the government is to pay our creditors first and any other programs that run our country must play 2nd fiddle.
AS far as leaving something for our children? I for one would far prefer to leave them clean water, air, & well managed land and oceans. If that means we leave some debt too, so be it.Everybody seems to forget that we can't eat, drink, or breath MONEY. Of all these things money is by far the easiest thing for us to make. (As in earn not print...)Much more difficult to make drinking water out of used Hydraulic Fracking water. When we have had enough of "cheap" natural gas to burn will we be able to clean up our aquafers from the poison water the gas companies shoot back under ground because there IS no place else to put it? Billions and billions of clean drinking water EVeRY day, used once and forever toxic. What will we drink then? A balanced budget????? We can pay our bills eventually, but we cannot afford to continue turn a blind eye to our children's true future. I am enjoying 60 degree weather in DECEMBER.... in WISCONSIN for crying out loud. I certainly hope my grandchildren can figure out how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, because he is for sure very truly broken.
Govenment is not for the benefit of corporations it's job is to perform the largest amount of SERVICE for the largest number of PEOPLE possible. We paid higher taxes in the past and it didn't take very long to get Reagan & Bush I's debt paid back and to sock away a nice surplus ... so another Republican could fritter it away... Everybody forget about that????
Poll? I don't believe in no freak'n poll!
Next thing you gonna tell me is the poll says Obama is gonna be re-elected.
We been obstruct'n and lie'n and supress'n for four years now.
How's Obama gonna win the freak'n election again.
PSYCHE!!!!!
FOUR MORE YEARS FOUR MORE YEAR FOUR MORE YEARS BABY FOUR MORE YEARS
Let's see if I have my math right. 50.9% of voters re-elected the President, and a mere 53% indicate, by polls, that they will blame the GOP. So 47% will blame the President.If the President is truly surprised by the hard stand being taken by the GOP, he needs to remember the 47% of voters, who returned control of the House to Republicans and are telling their Congressmen NOT TO budge without compromise from the President.
To be honest, we are going to go over a fiscal cliff. If not this year, it will have in 2016. I feel better prepared to take the ride now.
Obama hired Bush's economic adviser Barnanke and stayed the Bush economic course of bailouts, stimulus and tax cuts to the rich that added $6 trillion to the nation debt in less that 4 years.
Bush with Bernanke as his economic adviser, bailouts, stimulus, and tax cuts to the rich only added $5.1 trillion to the national debt in 8 years.
You Obama supporters don't ever want to come out of your fantasy world for if you did, you couldn't handle it. Plus the world wouldn't be able to laugh at you anymore. You Obama supporters are better than any sicom on TV.
Its astounding that some writer hasn't taken the Obama supporters Newsvine posts and created a comedy for TV called "Brain Dead". It would be an instant hits as you all would love it.
Since you haven't figured it out yet, I'll tell you what we need. We need real tax reform, not the political rhetoric that's flying back and forth in Washington by both sides.
Na na na na boo boo. Na na na na boo boo. We need tax reform. Na na na na boo boo.
There. Fixed it for ya.
It's mind-boggling the comments from the LEFT. There is no rational reasons or facts for your comments. Congress has passed multiple budget bills to balance the budget and keep us our of a yearly deficit and not add to the debt. Harry Reid (DEM) has stopped them from even being discussed in the Senate; let alone be put before Obama for his approval/rejection. So Obama campaigns on getting more from the 2%. He wanted 800 billion over 10 yrs (80 Billion / year). Why is his first volley in negotiations two times what he campaigned on and with NO spending cuts, but actually MORE spending. This will only ADD to the yearly deficit and add to the debt. We need to raise revenue and it makes NO difference if it's from tax rate increases OR from eliminating deductions; both affect mainly the 2%. And we need to cut spending. Unfortunately, the numbers the both sides are asking for will have little effect on the yearly deficit and do NOTHING to solve the problem. We need a Constitutional amendment that requires a balanced budget so the idiots that can do basic math are forced to NOT kill future generations. Lastly, giving ONE person the ability to raise our "credit limit" would be ludicrous!
Polls like this just prove that the majority of Americans are a bunch of morons.
For the last 2 years Obama has been demanding $800B and promising 2x-3x that in spending cuts. That has basically been his definition of a "balanced" approach.
Now that the GOP has put the $800B on the table, Obama is insisting on 2x that amount and that it has to be provided only by the way he wants it. Further he wants new spending that basically consumes all of that additional revenue. Oh, and he wants Congress to cede the power of raising the debt limit to him (in violation of the Constitution). And finally, no spending cuts for now. Just a promise of up to $400B to be discussed "next year".
Obama is making this impossible, not the GOP. He is screwing this one up just like he did the debt ceilig negotiations last year, except this time he's doing it in a way that is making the people he has to work with angry.
This guy should not be in charge or a toilet plunger, let alone a country. And those of you who would put this at anyone's feet other than his (as the "leader") might as well become poster children for mental deficiency.
The scam that the Dems are trying to pull, is by increasing the rates it will only hit the upper middle class. The left complained that Romney, Warren Buffetand those in that income class paid too little in taxes. Their effective tax rate was well below the maximum tas rate. Can you say "LOOPHOLES" and "DEDUCTIONS"? Obama knows that raising the tax rates will have no effect on the ultra rich, they have deductions. Amazingly, the republicans are the ones that are saying lets make the tax code FAIR. Lets get the true "rich" to pay their rate. The poor guy (or business) making $250k per year is the one who is going to get screwed under Obama's plan and thats just the way he wants it. He doesn't want his big donors to pay more, this is his way to protect them while making the little guy think he is protecting them while screwing the rich. All he is diong is making sure that unless you win the lotto, you aren't going to move out of the middle class. At least not goiong up.
Oh...so this is supposed to make dems happy. We're all dead but it's the repubs fault and the dems can go home happy. What happened to the concept that we're all Americans and we need to pull together in a time of crisis. HELLO. BOTH PARTIES ARE TO BLAME!!!! And we have a broken political system. Vote all of them out and take back your country America.
The Democrats are loving this because it let's them off the hook for their part in the mess.
Wake up people!
Both sides are screwing up royally.
Start demanding more from them, email them, call them, and for America's sake, vote out the damn incumbents until they start getting it right.
Party affilitation and repaying political favors has been more important to them than healing this country for a very long time now.
Corruption has become the norm now and we as Americans are complacently allowing it to happen.
And all they, and we can do, is point fingers....pukey.
Something tell me if our founding fathers were alive right now, they would be trying to start a new country. The very tyranny they fought against is rampant in our system and there are so many laws that our government has become intrusive.
Vote them all out and keep doing it until they get the point.
.
Obama "the teflon king" and the democrats love anything that can be done and they are not held accountable. Admit nothing, Deny everything, Demand proof, Use Executive Privilege