Is this good news or bad news? This info comes from a terrific Rasmussen Report on the political opinions of Texans.
My 2301's are transitioning out of discussing public opinion, but this is a worthy addition to the subject and will be covered in future classes.
A couple of paragraphs from the reports summary:
The underlying views of Texans about government are generally similar to those in the rest of the nation. By a 73% to 11% margin, Texans trust the collective judgment of the American people more than the judgment of political leaders.
By a 62% to 21% margin, voters in Perry’s state believe that big business and big government typically work together against the interests of consumers and investors. And, by a 63% to 24% margin, Texans view the federal government itself as a special interest group.
We are populist generally, though also business friendly so I'm interested in what drives the answer to the question above about business and politics being in cahoots against the little guy. Not that I don't agree with the sentiment, I simply wonder if there is a change goign on in the relentlessly pro-business mindset in Texas. Is the economic slide finally having an impact on attitudes in the state?
The report also states that almost a third of Texans believe the state has the right to secede from the union, but low levels of knowledge about most things in the general public hardly makes headlines anymore so that's not a surprising finding.
I wondering whether the attention our governor's secession remarks is getting nationally will cloud how the public thinks of the tea parties. General opposition to government can be manifested in many ways, some are more likely to be taken seriously than others. Concerns over a growing deficit and the best way to handle a financial crisis are legitimate concerns, secession is not.
I expect that Democrats will push Rick Perry to the forefront of the tea party movement as much as they can and Republicans will try to change the subject. The end game (spin) is generally the most important part of any public relations campaign, so this will be interesting to watch. I'm beginning to think that Republicans may have made a tactical mistake, and allowed their concerns to be further parodied as extreme and unreasonable. Compare this to Obama's calm demeanor.
Who knows how this will play out though. Ideas?
