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Thursday, October 19, 2006
Midterm Murmers: "Read Our Lips, No New Tax Cuts" ?
Our Matt Lewis referred below to a Washington Post article this week speculating about whether Administration tax policy can be credited with lowering the budget deficit. Midstream, that article also offhandedly mentions that “subtleties of that argument have been lost on the campaign trail.”
So, what economic issues are voters thinking about? No idle question, 19 days before the midterm elections.
Voters are citing many economic issues. Prices at the gas pump and heating bills. Mortgage costs and housing values. Retirement investments and the stock market. Wages and benefits. A swirl of trends and countertrends come into play, almost none of which reflects tax, let alone fiscal policy.
"Tax cuts are working," the Post article quotes Bush saying again this week out on the stump. "There's a difference of opinion in the campaign about taxes. ... Democrats will raise taxes."
That message is apparently failing to resonate. We may not be at the point of hearing cries of “no new tax cuts!”, but the Post article reports a poll suggesting that the Administration’s single-minded tax cut focus may simply not be that relevant to voters. According to an AP-Ipsos poll released this week, “59 percent of voters believe Democrats would do a better job handling the economy, while 39 percent prefer Republicans.”
Posted by Dana Chasin
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