💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 3461.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 18:15:29. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2011-10-13 08:27:36
Senate Republicans Tuesday may have blocked President Obama's jobs bill, but a
new poll suggests that's not what a majority of Americans want.
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents to a survey from NBC/Wall Street Journal
voiced their approval when pollsters were told them the details of the
president's "American Jobs Act"-- including that it would cut payroll taxes,
fund new road construction, and extend unemployment benefits. NBC reports that
63 percent of respondents said they favored the bill, with just 32 percent
opposing it.
But the numbers for the bill only spike when Americans learn about its
provisions in some detail. When NBC pollsters asked for a simple up-or-down
appraisal of the bill, minus any policy details, the same group of respondents
expressed less than half the level of support that they later showed. "When
asked simply if Congress should pass the legislation or not, 30 percent of
respondents answer yes, while 22 percent say no; 44 percent have no opinion,"
according to NBC.
One element of the bill in particular enjoyed wide support--Obama's proposal to
remove tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans. Sixty-four percent of
respondents said it is a "good idea" to raise taxes on the wealthy and
corporations. Thirty-one percent said it was a bad idea.
The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points is
set for release Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
On Tuesday evening, senate Republicans joined together to filibuster the
president's jobs bill--denying efforts to begin formal debate on the
legislation even though a majority of senators had already voted to advance the
bill in a 50-49 vote.
The president first introduced the jobs bill in early September and has since
been traveling across the country to make the case for his proposal.