Gallup: Americans' Preference Shifts Toward One-Party Government

[flpoljunkie]

September 27, 2012

Americans' Preference Shifts Toward One-Party Government
Change in preferences driven mostly by Democrats
by Andrew Dugan

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A record-high 38% of Americans prefer that the same party control the presidency and Congress, while a record-low 23% say it would be better if the president and Congress were from different parties and 33% say it doesn't make any difference. While Americans tend to lean toward one-party government over divided government in presidential election years, this year finds the biggest gap in preferences for the former over the latter and is a major shift in views from one year ago.



These findings are based on Gallup's annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 6-9. The data show an increased level of support for one-party rule amid a currently divided government in which the Democrats control the presidency and the Senate, while the Republicans control the House. This suggests many Americans are experiencing divided-government fatigue.

Opinions on divided government have fluctuated over the years. When one party controlled both Congress and the presidency in 2006 and 2010, Gallup found near-historical lows supporting one-party rule. This suggests Americans may simply tend to prefer what they don't have or see problems in whatever the current situation is. At least one chamber of Congress changed hands in the subsequent elections, and the increase in support for one-party government in 2008 foreshadowed an election that would give the Democrats sole control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

Just once, in 2005, have a plurality of Americans preferred divided government since Gallup began asking this question, indicating division at the federal level is rarely popular. The "makes no difference" response has generally been the most popular, though support for it fell this year to tie the lowest level Gallup has found.

more...

http://www.gallup.com/poll/157739/americans-preference-shifts-toward-one-party-government.aspx

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. And how is that different from totalitarianism?

[demwing]

2. I see it as a reflection that Americans want a blue congress

to match our blue White House

[phleshdef]

4. It has nothing to do with totalitarianism one way or the other.

Totalitarianism is a government where the state holds complete authority over society, both in public and private life. Its not subject to elections. Its not subject to a constitution. It can change the rules on a whim. There doesn't have to be any due process. No courts to tell the federal government if its following existing law correctly.

One party in charge does not mean total control. I think 2009-2010 is a perfect example of that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Theoretically, that's true.

But where one-party rule can get damn close to it - at least if that party is the GOP - is that it can make it effectively impossible for the other party to have any power at all through Supreme Court appointments, more voter suppression legislation (which probably would be upheld by a GOP-appointed Supreme Court), filibustering everything, just as they have been doing; and if "unapproved" bills did somehow squeak through a GOP-controlled Congress the GOP president would veto them, and there wouldn't be enough Dem votes to override. So, while there would be a legal second party, unlike a true totalitarian state, that party would be powerless and the end result would be almost the same. That was, and likely still is, Karl Rove's goal when he talked about a permanent Republican majority. http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11623-karl-rove-assembling-the-death-star-to-american-democracy

[caraher]

5. As others said, it's a rejection of GOP obstructionism

And it's not the same as favoring the *existence* of only one party. I think those same people would also say there should be two or more parties with a *chance* at being the one running the show. What they express is a desire for action rather than gridlock.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Surely you jest.

[cyclezealot]

7. Tea Partiers. Reasonable.

Putting the full credit of the US over a cliff with their fiscal grandstanding is what is totalitarian. Should the Republicans give us reasonable congress members and then talking with them will not be a waste of time..

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. Bwaaaaahaaahaaahaa!!!!! Yeah like that awful totalitarianism we experienced 2

years ago.

[Viva_Daddy]

3. The voters are fed up with GOP obstuctionism.

[musiclawyer]

10. POTUS still needs to ask for a Dem Congress

He has not done so yet, and his failure to do so could cost Dems a chance to take back the House.

From his mouth. not surrogates.