First, some context . . .
The popularity of the 113th Congress, controlled by Tea-Publicans, has been at an historic low. “Americans’ approval of Congress is 13% in April, inching down from 15% in March, and currently standing only four percentage points higher than the all-time low of 9% in November 2013.” No Improvement for Congress’ Job Approval Rating – Gallup.
The 113th Congress will be the least productive in history. Yes, President Obama is right. The 113th Congress will be the least productive in history. What Senate Tea-Publicans do not obstruct with the greatest abuse of the Senate filibuster rules in American history, the weakest Speaker of the House in modern American history, John Boehner, the consensus “Worst. Speaker. Ever.,” fails to even bring up for a vote in the House, while Tea-Publicans have symbolically voted 53 times to repeal ObamaCare.
In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll today, “Americans trust Democrats over Republicans by 40 to 34 percent to handle the country’s main problems. By significant margins, Americans see Democrats as better for the middle class and on women’s issues. Americans favor the Democrats’ positions on raising the minimum wage, same-sex marriage and on the broad issue of dealing with global climate change.”
Republican austerity measures have sabotaged a robust economic recovery from the Great Recession that GOP economic policies created. The Tea-Publican led Congress has not passed a single jobs bill since they have been in control, House Republicans Blatantly Lie To America By Claiming They’ve Passed Dozens of Jobs Bills, while ending long-term unemployment insurance benefits, blocking a raise in the minimum wage, and slashing the social safety net (e.g., food stamps).
One would think that Democrats are headed for a “Blue Wave” landslide election this fall against an out-of-touch Tea-Publican Congress that is easily the “Worst. Congress. Ever.” You would be wrong.
Never underestimate the cognitive dissonance of American voters. Post-ABC News poll shows Democrats at risk in November:
Democrats face serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, with President Obama’s approval rating at a new low and a majority of voters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check the president’s agenda, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
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Republicans are favored to maintain control of the House, with the focus now on whether they can take control of the Senate. One key question about November is who will vote. Turnout in midterm elections is always lower than in presidential elections, and at this point, key elements of the Republican coalition — namely white voters and older voters — say they are more certain to cast ballots this fall than are younger voters and minorities, two groups that Democrats and Obama relied on in 2008 and 2012.
The so-called Rising American Electorate — unmarried women, young people, Hispanics, and African Americans — were the key to Democratic victories in 2008 and 2012. But these voters typically drop off in midterm elections, conceding their vote to older, white, male voters who vote Republican. This drop off in the “Rising American Electorate” vote in midterm elections is the only reason that Republicans are favored to win in 2014. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo famously observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
The so-called “Rising American Electorate” needs to understand that you have a civic duty as American citizens to vote — it is the bare minimum requirement of citizenship. Until the “Rising American Electorate” grows up and turns out to vote consistently in every election, you are conceding your vote to a radical political party that is anti-government, anti-democracy, and anti-American (FAUX News anti-hero Cliven Bundy: “I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing.”) You could easily lose your right to vote, and lose American democracy in the process. And then what are you going to do? It will be too late.
