The latest the New York Times/CBS News poll shows plenty of interesting nuggets.
Let's start with Barack Obama's approval ratings. They're low. He's now at 41 percent approval, with 51 percent disapproving. The 2014 midterm elections look favorable for Republicans as well, with independents leaning toward the GOP, though admittedly only about a quarter of those admit in the survey that they're following the race in the dead of winter.
And then there's this:
But while the 2014 outlook is challenging for the Democratic Party, whose voters traditionally turn out in lower numbers in years without presidential elections, the Republican Party is contending with more profound structural challenges. Forty-two percent of Republicans said they were “mostly discouraged” about the future of their party, and among Tea Party supporters, that number was 51 percent.
Further, Republican lawmakers appear out of step with the public on a range of issues, according to the survey. On immigration, same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization and gun control, Republican lawmakers hold to the minority position. Some of these policy matters illuminate the party’s internal divisions. Half of people under age 45 who lean Republican support legalizing marijuana, and a majority of the same cohort of Republicans also backs same-sex marriage.
But the poll shows that support for same-sex marriage has increased as dramatically with Republicans as it has with everyone else in the country, with 40 percent of self-identified GOP voters now supporting marriage equality; two years ago it was just 24 percent.
Let's face it: being against LGBT rights is going against the tide of history, which is why it was not surprising last night when Arizona governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gay men, lesbians and other people on religious grounds.
Florida's Rick Scott got himself into some trouble yesterday when he failed to take a position on the law, telling MSNBC's Chuck Todd on three different occasions that he wasn't familiar with the bill. Later in the day he issued a statement saying that he would veto such legislation.
Yesterday in Clearwater the board at PSTA approved another $250,000 for education purposes regarding the Greenlight Pinellas campaign. Cynics like the folks with No Tax For Tracks think it's all an advertising campaign masquerading as educational.
A federal judge has struck down another ban on same-sex marriage, this time in Texas. Meanwhile there is a lawsuit in Florida that is attempting to strike down our 2008 ban on same-sex marriages. On Monday two of the biggest conservative groups intervened in the case taking place in Miami.
This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 5, 2014.