Students of US politics might be interested in the following, just out from
the Times Mirror Center for People and the Press. Note that 2/3 of the
population are nonvoters, and their answers are virtually identical to Dem
voters.
<quote>
Point 1: Only 17% of the American public voted for the "Republican
Revolution." The public at large, and even the probable electorate for
1996, have different views about government, social spending, and the
values debate than those who voted Republican on November 8th. The
difference is worth keeping in mind as we judge "public" reactions to the
work of the new Congress.
1994 Voting Blocks and Their Differing Values
GOP Dem non-
voters voters voters
government is almost always
wasteful & inefficient 78 57 57
government often does a better
job than people give it
credit for 19 40 40
neither/both equally/don't know 3 3 4
poor people today have it easy
because they can get gov't
benefits wihtout doing any-
thing in return 61 41 41
poor people have hard lives
because government benefits
don't go far enough 25 50 49
neither/both equally/don't know 14 9 10
percent of total public 17 16 67
<endquote>
Doug Henwood
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