[preachadaq]

Smashmouth politics might play well in certain true-believer districts, but the American people at large don't like it. Opposition to Tea Party candidates is now high, and unless they can find the word "compromise" in their dictionaries over the next several months, they're going to have a hard time in moderate districts come 2012.

This will very likely be another election with massive turnover. I'm a lot less concerned with the final party makeup as I am with re-stocking the chambers with moderates who can find common ground, rely on facts over ideology and act like respectable, intelligent adults.

TPM: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...de.php?ref=fpb

TPM has been reporting for weeks about the effect of the debt debate on individual political leaders and the subsequently low ratings of Congress. But new data from a CNN poll shows that there's been a difference in the minds of many Americans: the Democratic Party is getting a split on approval/disapproval at 47 - 47, but the Republican Party disapproval rating is all the way up to 59%, against a 33% approval.

The GOP approval rating has been going down in the CNN poll since their 2010 victories: in the October 27-30 version, the Republican Party had a small plurality in approval, at 44 - 43. But since last fall's election they've seen a steady downward trend in the survey, to the current low, which is the highest disapproval rating in the CNN poll in the last twenty years.

The Tea Party itself actually has a lower disapproval rating at 51% than the Republican Party, and only a slightly lower approval rating at 31%.

CNN was also quick to point out possible consequences of such high dissatisfaction with Congress. From the report:

Only 41 percent of people questioned say the lawmaker in their district in the U.S. House of Representatives deserves to be re-elected - the first time ever in CNN polling that that figure has dropped below 50 percent. Forty-nine percent say their representative doesn't deserve to be re-elected in 2012. And with ten percent unsure, it's the first time that a majority has indicated that they would boot their representative out of office if they had the chance today.

[BiseCreesia]

There are no moderate Democrats anymore while there are quite a few moderate and some liberal Republicans. The poll indicates displeasure between the two GOP camps (moderate and conservative). For example I dissaprove of the job that the GOP is doing but that doesn't mean I condone anything DEMS/Liberals are doing.