WCCT

The results of the November election should have left no doubt in the minds of the right-wingers in charge of the national Republican Party about how far their ideas are from the wants of a majority American voters. For any conceivable remaining questions, they should peruse the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll.

Take this little example: 85 percent of voters surveyed (including 77 percent of Republicans) think signing a pledge to never raise taxes is a dumb idea. Hmmm. And how many GOP members of Congress have signed that pledge?

Then we have President Obama's insistence on raising income taxes on folks making more than $250,000 a year. That's the concept that congressional Republicans are fighting like hell against, screaming bloody murder about, and forecasting horrible consequences should it actually happen.

Obama's plan has the backing of 65 percent of American voters, according to the Q Poll released this week.

Or how about public perceptions of how Republicans and Democrats are doing handling their business in Congress. Now, everyone knows most voters have really, really low opinions of Congress, and rightfully so.

So it's no surprise that Democrats got only a 37 percent approval rating. The shocker is that 69 percent of voters dislike the job Republicans are doing.

Among independent voters, which happen to be the biggest block in the nation, congressional Republicans get a 71 percent negative rating.

If this sort of attitude keeps up and the national GOP refuses to change its attitudes on a whole bunch of issues, we could be in for a long, long stretch of Democratic control.