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GOP Regains Trust Over Dems on Majority of Issues

As it has been for many weeks now, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats when it comes to handling the economy, which is the issue they still consider most important to their vote – 80% said “very important.” However, and this is very good news for the GOP, for the first time since Election Day the GOP has regained the trust advantage on the majority of major issues.

Interestingly, issues such as the economy, gun control, social security and healthcare, all have tightened from much wider margins. For now, at least, it seems the American people are willing to give the GOP the benefit of the doubt for lack of a better place to go. The recent scandals are clearly taking an ideological toll on the Democrats.

On the issue of immigration the GOP has pulled ahead 43% – 40%, while on “National Security & the War on Terror” they have pulled quite a bit farther ahead on – 46% – 37%. The hierarchy of issues, that is to say, the most to least important issue to the American voter has not been fully updated since all of the scandals broke.

Even still, “government ethics & corruption” was a close #4 when last asked in April, and 65% reported that it was “very important” to their vote – just below 66% who reported “government spending.”

Tomorrow I will release the analysis of the updated average of Generic Congressional ballot surveys, and it should make for interesting data. I never suggest a reliance on one poll, and they have been all over the place, but the trend has been crystal clear since the scandals broke. Quinnipiac and Rasmussen both have the ballot either tied or 1 or 2 points between each other, and tomorrow we will see if the Democrats political downfall has been arrested, or has continued much to the dismay of Nancy Pelosi.

National Surveys of 1,000 Likely Voters
May 15-16, May 19-20 & May 23-24, 2013

ISSUE	DEMOCRATS	REPUBLICANS
Economy	40%	43%
Nat’l Security & War on Terror	37%	46%
Job Creation	39%	45%
Energy Policy	46%	37%
Afghanistan	39%	38%
Immigration	40%	43%
Gov’t Ethics & Corruption	37%	39%
Taxes	38%	46%
Health Care	41%	42%
Social Security	41%	38%
Education	42%	34%
Environment	49%	33%
Gov’t Spending	33%	49%
Issues Affecting Small Business	33%	48%
Gun Control	41%	43%

Poll: Voters Give Biggest Trust Margin to GOP on Spending, Democrats on Environment (richardbaris.wordpress.com)

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Richard D. Baris

Rich, the People's Pundit, is the Data Journalism Editor at PPD and Director of the PPD Election Projection Model. He is also the Director of Big Data Poll, and author of "Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract."