Poll Shows Americans Oppose Entitlement Cuts - Another Sign of GOP Suicide?

I have wondered before if the Republican Party has some long term suicide wish since it continues to pander mostly to aging white racists and Christian extremists who are literally dying off. Meanwhile, the GOP espouses positions against Hispanics, blacks, non-Christians, gays and that do not resonate with younger voters. Now, a new poll suggests that the GOP effort to tear down the social safety net that began to be erected during the New Deal likewise is unpopular with a majority of the citizenry even if popular with the Koch brothers and uncharitable conservative Christians. I believe that the country needs more than one viable political party, but what happens when one party becomes so extreme that it no longer puts the best interests of the nation as a whole ahead of the insanity of extremists? The Washington Post looks at a new poll that suggests that the GOP's coddling of the super rich and desire to destroy social security, medicare and other programs that provide some minimum safety net are not playing well with a majority of the public. When is the larger news media going to stop merely regurgitating GOP sound bites and start refusing to show just how extreme the GOP has become? Here are highlights from the Washington Post:
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Despite growing concerns about the country’s long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
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The survey finds that Americans prefer to keep Medicare just the way it is. Most also oppose cuts in Medicaid and the defense budget. More than half say they are against small, across-the-board tax increases combined with modest reductions in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Only President Obama’s call to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans enjoys solid support.
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Public resistance to many proposals in the competing plans could greatly complicate those discussions. Altering entitlement programs still involves political risk, the poll shows, and proponents of such changes face a substantial challenge in persuading the public that they are needed.
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The two sides are far apart philosophically, and neither enjoys great public confidence: Fifty-eight percent of those polled disapprove of the way the president is handling the budget deficit. Even more — 64 percent — give Republicans in Congress low marks.
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[P]olitical independents side with the Republicans on tackling the burgeoning debt. But Obama maintains a key, double-digit advantage among independents when it comes to “protecting the middle class.”
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The Post-ABC poll finds that 78 percent oppose cutting spending on Medicare as a way to chip away at the debt. On Medicaid — the government insurance program for the poor — 69 percent disapprove of cuts.
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In his speech last week, the president renewed his call to raise tax rates on family income over $250,000, and he appears to hold the high ground politically, according to the poll. At this point, 72 percent support raising taxes along those lines, with 54 percent strongly backing this approach. The proposal enjoys the support of majorities of Democrats (91 percent), independents (68 percent) and Republicans (54 percent). Only among people with annual incomes greater than $100,000 does less than a majority “strongly support” such tax increases.
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Just 34 percent of Americans say Medicare should be changed along the lines outlined in the Ryan budget proposal, shifting it away from a defined-benefit plan. . . . In his speech last week, Obama attacked that idea, saying it could leave some Americans without adequate coverage and would end “Medicare as we know it.”
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The poll suggests to me that if - and it's a huge if - Obama and the Democrats would get a spine, they could end the Bush tax cuts which alone would do much to improve the budget. Sacred cow military spending also needs to spending needs to be on the table and the public needs to be forced to understand what the Chimperator's follies in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost and the role such spending has played in creating the budget debacle.