By Ed Randazzo
Voters are becoming increasingly skeptical that this Congress is likely to agree on major spending cuts before next year’s elections. They also aren’t confident either side will come up with a serious plan to begin with.
As a result House Speaker John Boehner’s initial favorable marks have fallen sharply from last month’s high.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey of likely voters shows that 37% have at least a somewhat favorable impression of Boehner, down 10 points from last month. Forty-one percent (41%) view the Ohio congressman unfavorably, while another 23% don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.
Boehner first received a spike in favorable ratings to 41% in November as media coverage of him increased following the GOP takeover of the House in the midterm elections. His favorable rating increased steadily in the months following to a high of 47% in March. Prior to November, Boehner’s favorables had stayed in a range of 21% to 32% since Barack Obama took office in January 2009.
In the ongoing budget-cutting debate in Washington, some congressional Democrats have accused their Republican opponents of being held captive by the Tea Party movement, but voters like the Tea Party more than Congress!!!
The real message here is that the voters want real spending cuts now. Speaker Boehner must produce more meaningful results in the budget-cutting battles to come.
