More evidence, in
CNN’s poll of 1,008 “adults,”
for those of us [points at self] who argued that liberal and Tea Party opposition to the tax cut deal was more about loud spokesmen than public opinion. The question:
Congress has passed and President Obama has signed into law a bill that would extend tax cuts for all Americans, reduce the estate tax, extend unemployment benefits, and reduce the Social Security tax that workers pay. Taking into account all of those provisions, do you favor or oppose that bill?
Overall, 75 percent of respondents supported the bill. It was higher – 78 percent – among Democrats. It was lower, 64 percent, among self-identified liberals. And it was exactly 75 percent among “Tea Party supporters.” Fifty-five percent of Tea Party supporters even supported the unemployment benefit extension.
But the poll shows, overall, some slippage in liberal support for Obama. This is probably why. Asked about the details of the bill, only 39 percent of people supported the reduction of the estate tax to 35 percent, and 59 percent opposed it. The only people who supported that are conservatives (54 percent), Republicans (58 percent), and Tea Party supporters (58 percent). Asked whether it “does too much for wealthy Americans,” 56 percent of people agree and 35 percent disagree – again, only those three subsets of conservatives disagree.
