Do Americans Support The 20 Week Abortion Ban And Cutting Food Stamps? WaPo Says Yes.

[cali]

No wonder repuke fuckwads in Congress have been seizing on these two issues. This is typical right wing WaPo; it's written like an advocacy piece for repukes.

While Republicans have spent the last several months litigating issues on which Democrats showed a distinct advantage in the polls — tax breaks for the rich, gun control and immigration, to be specific — the GOP has recently seized on a couple of issues that actually appear to poll in their favor: food stamps reductions and a 20-week abortion ban.

Judging by the vocal opposition to the Republicans’ actions on these issues, that may surprise some people. But in fact, polls show the GOP’s opposition to abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy polls pretty well, and its desire to rein in food stamps (which House Republicans separated from the Farm Bill this week) could be a net-positive too.

A National Journal poll from two weeks ago showed narrow support for the ban, 48 percent to 44 percent, while Gallup polling has consistently shown about two-thirds of Americans think abortion should be illegal in the second trimester (i.e. even well before the 20th week).

Similarly, Americans are on-board with reductions in the food stamp program. A January Kaiser Family Foundation poll showed 69 percent of Americans favored some kind of reduction in the food stamp program.


<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/07/12/food-stamps-abortion-pose-big-tests-for-gop-message-machine/

[madaboutharry]

1. If this is the truth, then there is something wrong with America.

What a hateful people we are.

[cali]

2. I think it's more complicated than most people supporting this

particularly with these kinds of issues, how people answer depends on how questions are phrased, but having said that....

[HardTimes99]

7. I bet if one prefaced the question with a factual statement like

"Recent studies show that 1 in 5 American children suffer at least one episode of hunger per month. Given those numbers, do you support cutting food stamps . . .?" the answer would be a resounding "No.!" If it's still "Yes," . . .

[JHB]

8. For the food stamps one:

If the president and Congress decide to reduce the deficit by reducing spending on federal programs and services, I’d like to know in which programs you would be willing to see spending reduced. For each program I name, please tell me if you would support major spending reductions, minor spending reductions or no reductions at all as a way to reduce the federal deficit. First, to reduce the deficit would you support major reductions, minor reductions, or no reductions to spending on (INSERT)? How about (INSERT)? (IF NECESSARY:
To reduce the deficit, would you support major reductions, minor reductions, or no reductions to spending on (INSERT))? (SCRAMBLE ITEMS)

The Table is on page 8 of:
http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/8405-t1.pdf

Actually, in terms of opinion about major/minor/no cuts, National Defense has a very similar profile. A couple of percent less for cuts, but then, it hasn't been subjected to "they're buying lobsters with food stamps" smear campaigns, nor ones that highlight just how much bloat there is in the defense budget and what the relative savings would be.

Interesting that only "entitlements" came up in the WaPo post.

[cali]

12. interesting. thanks very much for posting that!

[atreides1]

3. We're not all hateful

Just the demographic that was polled!

They poll less then 1% of the population, and they do the polling in areas where they already know what the answers will be...mainly because they're getting paid to provide the "right" replies.

[madaboutharry]

5. I know.

[atreides1]

13. WaPo

Conducted a poll about the D.C. Metro system...and the percentage of those polled said it was a well run system...I take the Metro every day, no one I talk to says it's a "well run system"!

Sat on a train for almost two hours on Wednesday because another train had a brake problem, it was recently reported that the emergency call buttons in the train cars don't always work(this has been going on for months), elevator/escalator problems that seem to get worse instead of better.

They only polled 1100 people, out of ridership of 750,000...but Metro paid for and got the results they wanted!

[kickysnana]

4. KSTP5 Hubbard Broadcasting did another hit peice on "Welfare Waste" yesterday

A legislative audit reveals that some people "could" cheat. Duh! They keep cutting the budget. My first thought is that the NSA has the info on everyone why aren't they offering it to the states to wipe out this "possible fraud".

What does that have to do with benefit amounts? Everyone still repeats the carefully crafted and disseminated lies about the welfare queens buying outrageous stuff.

America is a very, very sick society.

[Myrina]

10. Some dude here in Indy is going to prison for $30k in 'welfare fraud' ...

... padding his benefits by a couple hundred a week while he wasn't working, probably to pay his mortgage & feed his kids.


Meanwhile, at Goldman Sachs ....

[kickysnana]

16. But he is one in thousands and he is simply is a crimminal.

You cannot stop criminals by penalizing poor people with starvation and no place to live.

You don't stop insurance payments or pay only part to make a car safe because some people cheat on Insurance.

Apples and Oranges.

A pox on everyone who aided and abetted the world heist by the 1% over the last 35 years. Unless of course they repent and help put the 1% in prison for theft and murder where they belong.

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. as far as food stamps - that is the problem with means tested social programs -

I have found that in democracies where social programs are not part of some means testing scenario - people look at them fundamentally differently. Even in America no one who sends their kids to public schools is viewed as parasitic deadbeats. The whole American welfare system is almost constructed in a way that pits middle class against the poor as opposed to a more European approach in which social programs are positioned as ia kind of social insurance for working people. As far as the 20 week limit on abortion is concerned - There is a simple reality that most Americans are both pro-choice but still have moral reservations about abortion. That may seem contradictory - but lots of moral thinking is to varying degrees contradictory.

[Myrina]

9. ... because the American people don't know the facts behind either 'program' ....

.... all they know are the bullet-pointed emotion-grabbers that are tossed around in the media.
If they actually thought about & knew what these programs do, and know anyone affected by the need for a legal, safe abortion or assistance feeding your family (ironically, if you can't get the abortion, you're more likely to need food stamps, btw) they would think differently.

But they've been tainted by media portrayals of "those people" who need/utilize these services.

[Lasher]

11. CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 11-13, 2011.

"I'm going to name a few federal programs and for each one, I'd like you to tell me whether you think federal spending on that program should be increased, kept the same, decreased a little, or decreased a lot, or if you think that program should be eliminated entirely. . . ."

72% of respondents said "Food and nutrition assistance for the poor, including the program that used to be known as food stamps" should be increased or kept the same.

[hootinholler]

18. Yep.

It's a blog (no page number on the published line) and they have cherry picked their polls (going back to January in one case).

[RebelOne]

15. This American says absolutely not.

I am pro-choice, so I do not support an abortion ban. And as far as food stamps, no way. I may have to be on them myself in the near future.

[octoberlib]

17. Some Republican probably called

someone at the Post and had this article written. This is why the American media sucks. They continually give this extremist, whack job party that has nothing but contempt for Democracy a pass and will continue to do so until they destroy our country.

[octoberlib]

19. Here we go. One of the authors , Aaron Blake is a Republican hack. He's been called out before on it

It's not every day that you see a reporter call the media useless, but that's precisely what Aaron Blake of the Washington Post did today when he published this piece giving cover for politicians -- Mitt Romney in particular -- who attack their opponents with wildly out-of-context quotes. The true context won't really matter, argued Blake, because the attacks work:

http://mediamatters.org/tags/aaron-blake


Mr.Blake wrote pro-Romney pieces during the election.