Quote (Goomshill @ 23 Mar 2020 02:57)
Read the headlines from left-wing outlets, read the reactions on left-wing social media like /r/politics, tell me what you see.
Looks to me like Nancy Pelosi just took the first major and substantive decision in bogging down the crisis response with obstructionism, and is 'getting away with it'.
How are we supposed to know that? Pelosi metaphorically flipped the table and walked out just a couple of hours ago. If the GOP gives her concessions and a bill passes with bipartisan support within a couple of days, her power play will have been successful. If the bill really does get stuck for a significant amount of time, it imho is completely open whether this will result in declining approval ratings for Democrats. But we definitely cant have hard data on this scenario just yet.
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Voters don't play chess, they play 52 card pickup. The president is going to have his political fortunes tied to the performance of the country no matter who's 'fault' it is. Republicans engaged in massive obstruction against Obama, they didn't suffer any political costs from it. When Obama programs failed, Obama got dinged. Nobody will care what popular proposals Trump kept talking about, if at the end of the day there's an economic collapse, high death toll, mass unemployment and business failures. The voters don't follow the garden path of unwinding who is at fault, they just blame the guy at the helm. Same reason every president gets the blame for economic failures and credit for economic successes, even if they were out of his control.
I have to disagree. The big difference between the situation now and Obama is that the bills Obama wanted to pass were never awfully popular. By contrast, stuff like paid sick leave or a temporary UBI for laid off workers is wildly popular atm.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-views-on-the-coronavirus-are-shifting-fast/Quote
According to this week’s YouGov/The Economist poll, though, there is broad support for the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed this week: 60 percent of Americans approve of it and 14 percent disapprove. And when asked about the bill’s specific provisions, even more Americans are supportive. For example, free coronavirus testing has the backing of 76 percent of Americans according to Data for Progress and 89 percent according to YouGov/The Economist. And paid sick leave (which the bill provides for some, but not all, workers) enjoys 66 percent support per Data for Progress and 84 percent per YouGov/The Economist.
By contrast, some polling for the Obama stimulus package:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/114184/public-support-stimulus-package-unchanged.aspx
Simply put, Republicans got away with their obstructionism of Obama's policies because they were successful at convincing their partisan voters to turn against these policies. I really doubt that Democrats will be successful at turning the bulk of their voters against free monthly checks or paid sick leave. Sure, the TDS folks and the Bernie bros might still oppose it, but not the rest of the Democratic rank and file.