NewsBreakingOnline

At least there’s some hope emerging out of this idiotic, Republican-manufactured “crisis” over the public debt ceiling. They’re getting hammered in the polls over this. PPP says momentum is swinging back the other way in House races: Democrats lead this month 46-44 on the generic House ballot. That’s a 9 point shift from the Republicans’ 7 point margin of victory on that measure in November’s election and although it might not be enough to give them back control that margin would almost definitely translate to Democrats winning back a lot of the seats that they lost last fall. The GOP does maintain an 8 point advantage with independents at 41-33, but that represents a significant decline from their 19 point victory with them according to last year’s exit polls. John Boehner is not proving to be popular with the American public. 33% of voters approve of the job he’s doing to 37% who disapprove, with independents splitting against him by a 34/37 margin almost identical to the overall numbers. He does have one thing going for him though- with Republicans he’s at 55/15, suggesting there’s not too much opposition to him within the party. We also found on our GOP primary poll earlier this week that 41% of Republican voters have a higher opinion of Boehner to just 18% who picked Eric Cantor so there’s not any appetite for a change in leadership at least with the public at large. The House landscape has shifted dramatically in the last 9 months. Awww, poor John Boehner. I’d love to hear what the numbers are on Eric Cantor. Other results from the poll (and this is not a joke): Though Congress is hardly popular, it can take solace in that voters like Rupert Murdoch a whole lot less. With a phone hacking scandal engulfing News Corp, voters don’t appear to consider Murdoch an innocent party. Only 12% of voters hold a favorable opinion of Murdoch compared to 49% who view him unfavorably. Unsurprisingly, those who identify as very liberal see Murdoch unfavorably, giving him a 9-60 rating, but even very conservatives don’t like Murdoch, rating him 23-27. Though not the most popular figure PPP has polled, if God exists, voters are prepared to give it good marks . Voters approve of God’s performance by 52-9 margin, making God about as popular as Murdock is unpopular. When asked to evaluate God on some of the issues it is responsible for, voters give God its best rating on creating the universe, 71-5. They also approve of its handling of the animal kingdom 56-11, and even its handling of natural disasters 50-13. Young voters are prepared to be more critical of God on natural disasters with those 18-29 rating it 59-26 compared to 47-12 among those over 65. Full report here. (PDF)