Americans show disapproval across the board for the way their elected officials seem to be handling the debt ceiling crisis in Washington, according to the most recent CBS News poll, but they show more disapproval with the way Republicans are approaching negotiations than they do with the methods of President Barack Obama or congressional Democrats. Still, most believe that the debt ceiling will be raised before the Aug. 2 deadline and the federal government has to shut down.
According to the poll, 71 percent of respondents believe that Republicans are handling the crisis ineffectively. By contrast, only 58 percent disapprove of the way Democrats are trying to raise the debt limit. President Obama also has higher disapproval numbers than approval, although his numbers are closer to even: 48 percent to 43 percent.
Current positions in the negotiations show Republicans remain intransigent to Democratic demands to put revenue increases in play in the talks. At the same time, there are several plans being talked about regarding spending cuts. One plan targets roughly $1 trillion in cuts, while another, which is being referred to as the "grand compromise," appears to cut the budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.
There is still another, one proffered by Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, that would allow President Obama to raise the debt ceiling three times but would give Republicans political cover where they could register non-binding votes against the president doing so (and also give Congress time to hammer out actual details of the increases).
However, the disapproval of Republicans' negotiating methodology seems to stem from the appearance that they are simply withholding their votes of a debt limit raise until Democrats acquiesce to their spending cut demands. Their collective reluctance to allow any talk about tax break or tax loophole eliminations is generally seen as protecting corporations and the wealthy at the expense of both government operations and the nation's poor.
Democratic disapproval most likely stems from the reaction against proposals to include entitlement programs as part of the negotiations, something polls have shown Americans are generally against. Obama's disapproval numbers most likely are generated from the same source, especially given his public pronouncements that Social Security and Medicare have to be discussed along with tax breaks and revenue generators.
Republicans do not even have the support of half their own electorate, according to the CBS News poll. A full 51 percent of Republican respondents disapprove of their party's dealings in the debt ceiling talks. Only 32 percent of Democrats disapprove of the way their elected members are handling the negotiations. Even less, 22 percent, believe President Obama is handling the negotiations poorly.
But 36 percent of all respondents believe the warnings against allowing a government shutdown are scare tactics (40 percent believe warnings are valid). The numbers come in light of warnings from bond ratings agencies that they are considering lowering American security ratings even before a settlement is reached.
Still, 66 percent of respondents believe that a debt ceiling agreement will be reached prior to August 2.
In the meantime, the Washington Post has reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate would hold meetings every day until an agreement had been reached. Over in the House of Representatives, the Los Angeles reported that Republican leaders forged ahead on a plan to submit a bill that would require a balanced budget every year, lift the debt ceiling by $ 2.4 trillion but would ultimately cap government spending at 18 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, and slash more than $110 billion from the 2012 fiscal year budget. The House plan is seen as symbolic and has no chance of Senate passage.
Designing bills for passage rather than symbolism might foster better approval numbers in the future as well.
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