ConservativeHome's Survey blog

New Republican Panel Poll: Republican voters overwhelmingly want Congress to propose an alternative to Obamacare, not just repeal it

Sixty-nine percent of active Republican voters say they want Republicans to propose an alternative to Obamacare, not just repeal it.

Only 30 percent say that repeal is enough for them. Republican leaders have worked hard to push forward a "repeal-and-replace" message. That message appears to have gotten through. In addition, voters know that returning to the flawed health care system America had before Obamacare isn't enough. The appetite for alternatives is at a level that Republican leaders should regard as a mandate.

This week's Republican Panel surveys 890 self-identified Republicans, the majority of whom actively support candidates by donating time or money.

Other key findings this week:

• Cut spending!  More than repealing Obamacare, Republican voters want Congress to focus on cutting spending. 46% say cutting spending is what they want the GOP to focus on right now, and 34% say repealing Obamacare. Only 13% say creating jobs.
• Voters have been engaged in the debate about health care. Nearly half (46%) of Republican voters say they followed the House vote on Obamacare "very closely."
• No to debt ceiling hike. A majority (59%) of voters don't want Congress to raise the debt ceiling, even if it's done in exchange for spending cuts.

Active Republican voters are clearly informed and energized about the health care debate and the ongoing battle over federal spending.

Here are the results from this week's poll:

Do you think Republicans should be proposing an alternative to Obamacare, or is repealing Obamacare enough for you?

Right now, I mostly want Republicans to focus on:

Should Republicans agree to raising the nation's debt ceiling?

How closely have you been following coverage of the House vote to repeal Obamacare?

 

John Boehner the big winner in ConservativeHome's January tracking poll

ConservativeHome's monthly tracking poll* of Republican activists should make John Boehner happy.

Conservatives not only strongly believe that Republicans will maintain control of the House of Representatives in 2012, they also rewarded Boehner's "month of tears and transparency" with a higher approval rating.

With 80% of voters giving him a thumbs-up this month, he passed Sarah Palin as the most highly-approved individual on the list presented to respondents. Only Fox News and the Tea Party get higher marks.

In particular:

• While respondents are less confident today than last month that the White House and Senate will be in Republican hands after 2012, they remain highly confident that the GOP will continue to hold the House.
• 2012 hopefuls Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Mike Huckabee either remained steady or dropped in their approval ratings from last month, but Boehner's rating rose from 71% to 80%.
• Boehner's not the only congressional leader to have had a good month. Mitch McConnell's public leadership at the start of the 112th Congress has also rewarded him with an approval bounce from 44% to 53%.

The ConservativeHome tracking survey asks respondents their views on which party will control the White House and Congress after the 2012 elections, and asks them to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a number of people and organizations. 

How many respondents think that the following will be in Republican hands after the 2012 elections?

	Dec 2010	Jan 2011
White House	71%	64%
Senate	75%	70%
House of Representatives	93%	93%

 

When asked to whom they give a thumbs-up, here's what respondents say:

(results listed from biggest gainers to biggest losers)

Dec 2010 Jan 2011 John Boehner     71%     80% Mitch McConnell     44%     53% Mitch Daniels     28%     35% Tim Pawlenty     50%     55% Wall Street Journal     58%     62% RNC     27%     31% Chris Christie     74%     77% Jim DeMint     57%     59% Tea Party     89%     91% Mike Pence     43%     44% John Thune     38%     39% Rush Limbaugh     75%      76% Rand Paul     68%       69% George W. Bush     72%     72% Fox News     92%     92% Sarah Palin     75%     73% Maro Rubio     76%     75% Jeb Bush     56%     55% John McCain     28%     27% Bobby Jindal     74%     71% Mike Huckabee     66%     63% Newt Gingrich     69%     61% Mitt Romney     63%     54% *The Republican Panel has been assembled for ConservativeHome by YouGov. Each monthly poll in this tracking poll consisted of approximately 850 individuals, all of whom are self-identified Republicans, and a large majority of whom actively give money or time to political candidates.

Republicans favor spending cuts as main way to reduce the deficit, trust the new GOP House members more than the old guard to hold the line on spending

This week, ConservativeHome polled 820 conservatives identified by YouGov for our Republican Panel. They were asked about what Congress can do to reduce the deficit. They were also asked about their confidence in new and returning House Republicans to hold a tough line on spending.

When it comes to America’s long-term deficit problems, conservatives tend to prefer spending cuts to anything else as a way to provide a fix. 

• 56% - cut spending across the board
• 27% - cut spending from all government budgets except the military
• 10% - pass a balanced budget amendment
• 3%   - cut taxes
• 3%   - fix Social Security and Medicare so they don’t pay out more than they take in
• 1%   - raise taxes on the wealthy
• 1%   - cut spending primarily from the defense budget

The interesting thing about these results is that entitlement reform – making sure Social Security and Medicare are solvent – registers such a small percentage of respondents. Despite Paul Ryan’s Roadmap and the message of last fall’s deficit commission, there is still quite a large disconnect between entitlement reform and deficit reduction, even among Republican voters.

When it comes to how confident conservative Republicans are that new and returning congressional Republicans will be tough on spending, respondents are more confident in the new faces that have just moved into their offices on Capitol Hill.

When asked how confident they are that the new crop of Republicans will stay true to their word to cut wasteful spending, responses were as follows:

• 45% are somewhat confident that the majority of them will remain true to their word
• 18% are very confident that the majority of them will remain true to their word
• 19% think roughly the same number will stay true to their word as will break it
•   5% think there is a slight chance a majority will break their word
• 10% think there is a big chance a majority will break their word

When asked how confident they were that returning Republican congressional members would work hard to cut spending, responses were as follows:

• 42% are somewhat confident they will work hard to cut spending
• 25% are not too confident they will work hard to cut spending
• 12% are not at all confident they will work hard to cut spending
• 11% are not too confident but not too worried, either
•   8% are very confident they will work hard to cut spending

Respondents prefer the new blood. Whereas only 15% think the new GOP members are likely to break their word on spending cuts, 37% think that returning members will not work hard to reduce spending.

Conservative insiders say spending cuts should be the top priority after next week's health care vote

This week’s ConservativeHome100 poll, which surveys a group of America’s most influential conservatives, asked the panel to name the two most important issues that the House majority should focus on after next week's vote on the health care law.

The question was open-ended, meaning panelists were asked to fill in their responses in their own words rather than selecting from a list.

Although the responses were varied, they were grouped largely in four main areas – the first of which, by far, was to focus on spending cuts of various kinds. Nearly three-quarters of respondents listed spending cuts as one of their two responses, followed by pro-growth tax and regulatory policy, entitlement reform, and dismantling Obamacare.

• Cut federal spending:                                                        74%
• Growth & jobs through tax and regulatory reforms:               40%
• Begin entitlement reform:                                                   19%
• Begin dismantling Obamacare:                                           14%

Because the question in the poll was open-ended, panelists made these points in their own words. However, there was a lot of consistency in how they replied. It is clear that large-scale spending reductions (not just trimming around the margins) and a pro-growth tax and regulatory environment are on people's minds. 

The poll includes notables such as Arthur Brooks, David Frum, John Podhoretz, John O'Sullivan, Reihan Salam, and Karl Rove. Some members have asked to remain anonymous.