In the wake of this weeks election results, where California Democrat Janice Hahn, soundly beat a \"tea party\" candidate for the seat vacated by corporatist Blue Dog Democrat Jane Harman. Here in Wisconsin the democratic challengers to the ethically challenged republican senators facing recalls withstood a primary by “fake” democrats that cost the taxpayers of Wisconsin around $500,000.
Now we have three new polls out, polling different things, that show what the hard right turn has done to the republican party.
1. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker could hardly be polling worse.
The most recent UW Badger Poll finds that a majority of Wisconsinites are not happy with current state of affairs in the Badger state.
*55% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the state today, a new high for the UW Badger Poll.
*81% said Wisconsin is in bad times economically and 50% expect it will be in about the same economic condition in the next 12 months, while 20% said things will get worse.
*Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsinites feel that state government is run for the benefit of a few big interests over that of all the people and can only be trusted to do the right thing some of the time.
* 59% disapprove of the way Scott Walker is handling his job as Governor.
* 60% disapprove of the way the State Legislature is handling its job.
56% disapprove of the job Republicans in the State Legislature are doing.
48% disapprove of the job Democrats in the State Legislature are doing.* Wisconsinites overwhelming think the recall option in the state constitution is a good thing (78%), and 50% said the current recalls of state senators made them feel better about Wisconsin politics.
*59% of residents statewide preferred that the Democratic state senators remain in office rather than be recalled and 49% said the same of the Republican state senators.
2. In terms of the economy, despite the republicans best efforts to rewrite history, America knows whose to blame for the current economic crisis:
By a wide margin, more Americans blame former President George W. Bush for the national economic outlook than they do President Barack Obama, according to a new poll.
Numbers out of Quinnipiac University Thursday morning indicated that 54 percent of Americans say Bush is to blame for exploding the federal deficit and swelling unemployment, whereas just 27 percent believe it is President Obama’s fault.
Those figures are bad news for Republicans, who are hoping to hang the nation’s poor economic state around the president to defeat him in 2012.
By and large, Americans told Quinnipiac that they trust Obama on the economy more than congressional Republicans, despite a growing dissatisfaction. Fourty-five percent also said they trust the president to help the U.S. economy, versus 38 percent who believe Republicans could do a better job.
3. Finally, Batsh*t crazy Michele Bachmann, is surging in the polls to be the next presidential nominee for the republican party:
Rep. Michele Bachmann is proving to be a force to be reckoned with as she picks up momentum in early caucus states and surges in the polls.
A national Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Bachmann gaining on front-runner Mitt Romney, with 15 percent of likely GOP voters favoring her as the Republican nominee compared with Romney’s 25 percent.
A similar poll in June showed Bachmann behind the former Massachusetts governor by 19 points. That gap has now narrowed to just 10 percentage points.
I am among the “no shit Sherlock” contingent. And I am also gleeful at the prospect of Michele Bachman more and more becoming the face of the Republican brand. They will wish, sooner rather than later, that they could exchange her for a toilet bowl ring.