Ferrara: Why Obama Hates Paul Ryan

Peter Ferrara believes President Obama's April 3 address to the Associated Press reveals 4 things: he doesn't understand major issues facing the country, he is hopelessly dishonest about what he does understand, he is demanding left-wing extremism as policy, and he is very angry because he's been shown up by Paul Ryan, "who stepped up in his budget and provided the leadership that Obama promised America in 2008..." Worth a full read.

The Political Class - Middle Class Disconnect

Drawing on recent national polling data, pollster Scott Rasmussen finds that "when a politician talks of helping the middle class with a new government program, it just doesn't ring true" with middle America.

What is especially interesting about the data is the income demographic. Upper-income Americans are evenly divided as to whether government management of the economy helps or hurts. Middle-income Americans, on the other hand, overwhelmingly view government management of the economy as hurtful.

"The affluent, perhaps because they can easily gain access to the policymakers, are OK with government management of the economy," writes Rasmussen, while "[t]he middle class, without friends in Congress or on Wall Street, has an entirely different view."

• a plurality of Americans now believe the United States has a system of crony capitalism rather than free-market competition
• only 27% of voters believe government management of the economy actually helps the economy
• 50% think government economic activitism does more harm than good
• 77% of voters think the government could help the economy by reducing the government deficit
• 71% think it would help to reduce government spending
• 59% think tax cuts would help
• 6 out of 10 voters agree with President Reagan's conclusion in 1980s that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

Read Rasmussen's full article here.

We're All Tea Partiers Now

The Tarrance Group released a poll today of 800 "likely registered voters throughout the country." Key findings:

• 8 in 10 (84%) of voters find it extremely or very concerning that the U.S.Senate has not passed a budget in nearly 3 years, including 93% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 74% of Democrats.
• 75% want to see President Obama's budget cut spending, but only 31% expect it to actually cut spending.
• 62% want to see the president's budget reduce taxes, but only 24% expect his budget to do that.
• 55% believe the best way to grow the economy and create jobs is by cutting government spending and keeping taxes low for all taxpayers, while 36% believe the best way is to increase government spending and make the rick pay more in taxes.