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Parties Differ on Compromise vs. Sticking to Principles

1 year ago
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The big question hanging over the next two years is how much room, if any, there will be for compromise and "working together" between Republicans -- with their new majority in the House and increased muscle in the Senate -- and President Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress.
That question comes into sharper focus after the successes of the tea party movement, most of whose candidates place the importance of principle over compromise, and the influence that view will have on Capitol Hill Republicans, not only as they wade through the thorny issues facing Congress but look ahead to 2012.
A new Gallup poll, conducted Nov. 4-7, finds that by 47 percent to 27 percent Americans overall generally believe it is more important to find areas of compromise than sticking to beliefs. The remaining 24 percent fall into a sort of neutral territory. (Gallup had asked those surveyed to use a scale of 1 to 5 to rate the choices, with the high number representing "more important to stick to beliefs" and the low one indicating it is more important to compromise).
U.S. CapitolThis is not a surprising outcome after a year of polls that found many Americans unhappy with the level of discord and bitter partisanship in Washington. A Pew Research/National Journal survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 3 found that 77 percent of Americans thought Republicans and Democrats in Washington were "bickering" more, compared to 53 percent who had the perception in April 2009.
However, another Pew/National Journal survey, conducted in mid-September, had a different overall outcome on compromise than Gallup, saying 49 percent admired leaders who stuck to their positions compared to 42 percent who made compromises, with 9 percent undecided. The questions were posed somewhat differently. Gallup asked which was the more important -- compromise or sticking to beliefs -- while Pew asked which kind of lawmaker was admired more.
Where both polls agree is in the starkly different viewpoint on the question of compromise between Democrats and Republicans.
The new Gallup poll, while finding that Americans overall lean towards compromise, says that Republicans favor sticking to beliefs by a 41 percent to 32 percent margin, with 25 percent somewhere in between. Democrats favor compromise by 59 percent to 18 percent, with 22 percent in middle ground.

In the earlier Pew poll, Republicans admired leaders who stuck to their beliefs over making compromises by a 62 to 33 percent margin, with 5 percent expressing no opinion, while Democrats admired those willing to compromise by 54 percent to 39 percent, with the remainder expressing no opinion.
Another pre-election poll -- conducted Oct. 16-21 by the New York Times and CBS News -- said voters were almost evenly divided when asked if they thought Republicans would or would not work with Obama and the Democrats if the GOP won the House.
But the poll showed that, by overwhelming margins, there was a desire among all registered voters to see Obama, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans work together. Sixty-nine percent of all those polled said Obama should compromise to get things done while 22 percent believe he should stick to his positions. Seventy-eight percent believed congressional Republicans should compromise, and 76 percent said the same about the Democrats. The poll did not break out the figures by party.

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13 Comments

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vwilli007

Please work together and remember your voice is suppose to be our voice. Americans want universial health care or the same health care you have. Why do foreign sources not outsource some there projects to Americans. We need jobs and our products sold and small businesses encouraged and the main thing is educate the children. Many of them cannot even write a complete sentence. Progress one step and go back two. Seperate the faster learners from the slowers ones. The faster students don't need supervison and help. Please make changes with the changes and new blood in the game. Thank you

November 10 2010 at 11:37 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
Richard

Just say NO --- and nothing will get done for another two years !!!

November 10 2010 at 9:26 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
Alan

Republicans won the elections this year with the expectation of a change of course in Washington. If there is any compromise, it should be the Democrats who offer the compromise as they were the party given the vote of "no confidence".

November 10 2010 at 8:36 PM Report abuse +11 rate up rate down Reply
beckjr2000

It will be very difficult for the remaining Democrats to compromise on the upcoming Bills from the Republicans. First, if they were actually concerned about American citizens you would have thought that they would have done something positive for them when they held vast majorities in both houses! That didn't happen and the Citizens noticed! Instead they have promoted Obamacare, more regulations, higher taxes, class and racial warfare, and bigger Government! They have been killing jobs as fast as they can!

November 10 2010 at 6:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sasha

One major difference between a liberal and a conservative. The liberal sees grey, the conservative sees black and white. One sees the ability to compromise; the other is adamant that he is right.

November 10 2010 at 6:15 PM Report abuse +8 rate up rate down Reply
wlr523

sometimes "no" is a lot better than the position obamas put us in today !!!obamas done enough damage

November 10 2010 at 4:27 PM Report abuse -4 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to wlr523's comment
jancf

What damage? Preventing a depression and 25% unemployment?

November 10 2010 at 6:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bennett975

black007 Your right, it started in 2006 when the democrats took control of the house and senate.

November 11 2010 at 12:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wlr523

pelosi & obama's ideas were repudiated Tuesday beyond a doubt, & neither of them get it !!!!!

November 10 2010 at 4:25 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
catalogsplus

The minority party ALWAYS wants the party in power to compromise. Gee I wonder how many studies we need to figure out the reasoning behind that. lol But the proof is in the pudding. Obama and Dems talk a lot about 'compromise' but always expects it all to come from the other side.

November 10 2010 at 3:53 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to catalogsplus's comment
trb2244

Everybody likes cake; it's the flavor and frosting that causes discord. If you ask folks whether or not they would like to see non-partisan cooperation in Congress, many will agree. Ask about specific proposals, however, and suddenly those voters are not in favor of compromise; e.g. ask Dems about "Reproductive Rights" or Republicans about higher taxes and see what happens to this "Just get it done." attitude...

November 10 2010 at 3:35 PM Report abuse +11 rate up rate down Reply
John Vilvens

Is this the same compromise we have seen over the last two years. Democrats ram thru bad bills with no input from republican and pelosi would not floor any republican bills. Drop all the bad bills and work together to write new one. Would that be a compromise?

November 10 2010 at 2:03 PM Report abuse -5 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to John Vilvens's comment
novablackmale

If the Republicans spent half of thier energy they use to kill Obamacare and came up with ideas to make it work there wouldnt be a problem implementing this law.

November 10 2010 at 7:32 PM Report abuse -6 rate up rate down Reply

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