A national web survey conducted this week by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner on behalf of Democracy Corps, shows that Independent voters do not trust House Speaker John Boehner and the Congressional Republicans on the debt ceiling and budget deficit debate.
These swing voters are tuned in and paying close attention to the debt ceiling debate in Washington and are very concerned about what could happen to the economy should Congress not act. Most problematic for Speaker Boehner and Republicans is these voters represent a critical bloc that propelled them into the majority last November, but have now turned away from the Republicans. Independent voters supported Republicans nationally by a double digit margin last November, but that support has fallen off during the debt ceiling debate. Independents are extremely negative toward Boehner and just 30 percent favor Boehner and the Republicans’ approach on the debt ceiling debate.
Boehner’s personal standing is abysmally low with this bloc, including among self-described conservatives. Equally important, President Obama has a sizeable advantage over Boehner and the Republicans among Independents on who is more concerned with the interests of the middle class, and Boehner is viewed as looking out more for millionaires and billionaires by a huge margin. Independents simply don’t see Boehner as an advocate for the middle class. President Obama and Democrats have a real advantage as Boehner and Republicans lack credibility among these swing voters as the debt ceiling debate continues. * Based on a web-survey of 600 self-identified independent voters conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for Democracy Corps, July 27-28, 2011. Unless otherwise noted, margin of error +/- 4.0.
