Although the 2010 midterm elections are mostly history except for a few remaining recounts, the normally increased levels of incivility that happen between the political left and right don't appear to be diminishing any time soon. In fact, those politicians who attempt to claim Tea Party support (usually only when it's convenient) don't appear to be in any mood to focus on the specifics of governing on issues like the budget cuts they claim they'll make - but can't identify.
Frankly, this only irritates us.
On the positive side, according to the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, we're not the only ones who are hacked off. And unlike those attempting to appease the Tea Partiers, we have specifics.
We fully expected USA Today to lead the presentation of their poll results with the most unsurprising statistics - that Democratic and left-leaning voters are currently more willing to find compromise in order to fix problems the country is facing than Republicans and Tea Partiers.
What we didn't expect to find in the deeper poll numbers was that the politicians who appear to have missed the message that voters sent a week ago aren't President Obama and the Democrats or even traditional, sane, fiscally conservative Republicans. For example, according to the numbers, voters don't really care about the Health Care Insurance Reform bill - only one-third want the law repealed.
What did become broadly clear is what the voters DON'T want.
They're not in the mood for two more years of partisan bickering and fighting without getting much done.
51% trust that Democrats will make a sincere effort to move the country forward, and work WITH Republicans to fix the problems Americans are facing. They overwhelmingly think President Obama will work towards compromise, by a 2 to 1 majority.
What they don't trust or believe in right now is that Republicans are going to be making a sincere effort to make things better for struggling Americans. Only 43% believe in the Republicans.
Further, for truly independent-minded voters, who statistically made up such a large portion of the Republican Party's winning vote count by a nearly 2 to 1 majority, they also want Republican leaders to get done what America needs done, instead of strictly adhering to political talking points and party dogma.
While we understand what some politicians like Rand Paul are doing, claiming that they'll be willing to drive the entire world's economy into the crapper in order to stay true to their campaign promises, we hate to remind them of the difference between campaigning and governing.
"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." - NY Gov. Mario Cuomo
