Thus Begins The Migration?

In 1993, Bill Clinton and the Democrat majority passed what was, at the time, the largest tax increase in American history.  Not a single Republican voted for it, if I recall correctly.  Two years later, the GOP swept into a solid majority in the House, and the Senate followed soon after.  We've discussed this before, but if the Republicans hold the line against the Generational Theft Act/Porkapalooza bill, we could very well see the same thing happen now.  They already have in the House, but the Senate has yet to take up the issue.

In the light of that context, here is some interesting news from Rasmussen Reports:

Public support for the economic recovery plan crafted by President Obama and congressional Democrats has slipped a bit over the past week. At the same time, expectations that the plan will quickly become law have increased.

Forty-two percent (42%) of the nation's likely voters now support the president's plan, roughly one-third of which is tax cuts with the rest new government spending. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 39% are opposed to it and 19% are undecided. Liberal voters overwhelmingly support the plan while conservatives are strongly opposed.

Last week, support for the President's plan was at 45% and opposition at 34%.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Democrats support the plan along with just 18% of Republicans. Both those figures are up just a single point from the previous poll.

However, support among unaffiliated voters has fallen. A week ago, unaffiliateds were evenly divided on the plan, with 37% in favor and 36% opposed. Now, 50% of unaffiliated voters oppose the plan while only 27% favor it.

I think it's worth pointing out that once people started learning about the details of the Democrats' plan, support eroded quickly - an 8 point swing in less than a week*.  What's possibly even more important to note, however, is the 'unaffiliated' category, which saw a swing of 22 points!  This underscores the argument that America is a fundamentally center-right nation, especially as it relates to how much government interference we have to deal with, and how much we pay in taxes.

Why is this shift important?  Those 'unaffiliated' voters are swing voters that could vote either Republican or Democrat in any given election.  This is not a demographic that Obama wants to alienate, but it looks like he may be in the process of doing just that.

Obviously, there is a LOT of time left between now and the 2010 election...but, it's something to tuck away for future reference.

There's my two cents.


*This also explains why every major bill (think amnesty, etc.) the Democrats try to pass is hidden from view until the last possible moment, and turns out to be hundreds of pages long - they know that when the public sees what they're doing, it won't go over well, so they have to hide and delay for as long as possible.  Classy.