Growing majority prefers Democrats for congress

The GOP had better hope their "American Values Agenda" performs as expected.

The new Bloomberg/L.A. Times polls finds that by a steadily increasing double-digit margin, American voters want Democrats to take control of congress in the fall elections.

Registered voters favor Democrats over Republicans in contests in their congressional districts by 49 percent to 35 percent, a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll finds. Fifty-four percent want to see Democrats control Congress, while 34 percent prefer that Republicans stay in power. In April, Democrats led Republicans 51 percent to 38 percent on the issue.

Democrats have opened up a 16-point lead on the question of which party is best equipped to tackle the nation's most urgent challenges. Democrats, who have long enjoyed a decided edge on issues such as health care and the economy, now find themselves preferred on the Iraq war, ethics and immigration -- issues where Republicans had been ahead, or where the public was more divided.

The turnaround suggests Republicans ``are headed for very difficult fall elections,'' said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. ``The House of Representatives is in play, and the Democrats have a real chance'' to sweep back to power.

All politics is local, however, and national surveys will mean less in November than the head-to-head matchups in your district and mine.

But these numbers are an important indicator of the public attitude toward the country's governing party. The attitude is that the party is not governing. The "American Values Agenda" is, in fact, the purest expression of that failure.

The real challenges facing America and Americans include, but are by no means limted to: the occupation of Iraq; the real and unaddressed threat of international terrorism; the ruinous cost of health care; the national debt; wage stagnation; the outrageous cost of energy.

Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled congress has chosen to spend the spring and summer debating an amendment to ban flag burning; an amendment to ban gay marriage; a law overturning mandatory gun locks; permanent repeal of the estate tax; a ban on human cloning; a law recognizing fetal pain; a purely symbolic rant against the news media for doing their jobs, and other measures that have nothing to do with the real challenges facing American families.

The Bloomberg/L.A. Times poll indicates a hard core of support for the GOP (PDF) among self-identified Republicans. Eighty percent of Republican voters approve of George W. Bush's overall job performance. Sixty-seven percent have a favorable impression of congressional Republicans.

This is clearly the reason for the agenda that the GOP-controlled congress is pushing this session. If they can't hold on to their base, they are lost. The problem is that their agenda is so extreme and out of touch (and, frankly, insulting to Republicans) with the priorities of everyone except the reactionary base, they might be lost, anyway.