As President Obama gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, he will be speaking to an electorate which generally is not satisfied with the direction of the country and wants Congress to stop partisan squabbling, pass an annual budget bill, cut college costs and protect Medicare.
In short, a new Crossroads GPS and American Action Network
poll finds that voters want the American family to stop fighting over the dinner table and get down to the meat and potatoes.
Across the board, 59 percent of voters think the country is on the wrong track, including 84 percent of Republicans, 58 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Independents, the poll finds.
Among the high priority issues voters want Congress to deal with are passing an annual budget, "increasing penalties for people who make fraudulent claims on Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security, disability, and welfare programs," drug tests for welfare and food stamp recipients, allowing states to require a photo ID for voting and a reform of welfare and Medicare programs to insure that recipients actively are looking for work. While these are generally considered high priority issues, Republicans feel more strongly about them than either Democrats or Independents.
When it comes to the highly-divisive issue of immigration,
The Wall Street Journal notes, Americans want illegal aliens to be granted legal status or citizenship if they have been in the U.S. for five years, pass background checks, pay any fines or back taxes they owe, speak English and have a job, and there is little disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over this position.
However, voters, with Republicans well in the lead, also want to see more secure borders, requirements for businesses to check immigration status of those they hire and establishment of a tracking system for visa holders to make sure they do not overstay their visas.
Republicans and Independents feel much more strongly than Democrats that Obamacare should be repealed and that Obamacare's tax on medical devices, the mandate that those without health insurance must pay fines and the requirement for businesses to provide health insurance be repealed. Republicans, more than Democrats, consider it a high priority that such legislation be passed, even if it is sure that Obama will veto it.
Several economic issues have little interest to voters, such as easing regulations, increasing Congressional oversight on federal agencies, rolling back Dodd-Frank financial restrictions, blocking Federal Communications Commission regulation of the internet and lowering tax rates on high-earning Americans.
Republicans, by a wide majority, feel approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline is important. On a sliding scale of one to ten, Republicans rate this at an 8.3 level of importance and Democrats a 6.3. Obama has threatened to veto Keystone legislation.
Republicans and Democrats are close to agreement on the importance of Medicare reform, lowering college costs, making it easier for schools to fire ineffective teachers and abolishing the estate tax.