WASHINGTON — Angry voters head to the polls today and are set to throw out Democrats across the country — a wave of pink slips that Republicans say reflects the nation’s deep dissatisfaction with President Obama’s economic policies.
“This election is entirely about him and this big majority in Congress and what they’ve been doing for the last two years,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
With the GOP expected to take over the House and make gains in the Senate, a new CNN survey found that 56 percent of likely voters believe the president hasn’t paid attention to the most important problems, while just 42 percent of likely voters said Obama has the right priorities.
A stunning 75 percent of likely voters said things in the country were going pretty badly or very badly — the worst rating since the poll started asking the question in the 1970s.
Polls show widespread frustration over Obama — who remained off the campaign trial, holed up in the White House yesterday — failing to turn the economy around, while increasing government spending and deficits.
“The American people are in charge,” declared GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio), vowing to shrink the size and cost of government if his party wins power today.
“Our first priority will be to create new jobs . . . to get our economy moving again by end ing the uncertainty facing small businesses,” he added.
By a margin of 62 percent to 33 per cent, likely voters believe the country is on the wrong track and 47 percent cited the economy as the biggest problem facing the United States today, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll yesterday.
“It just reconfirms the present environment in which we are in, a bad economy that has been prolonged,” said Ipsos pollster Cliff Young.
“People are basically not optimistic about the near future and they are going to take it out on the party in power, specifically the president and his administration.”
The poll said 50 percent of those polls believed the Obama administration has made the economy worse than it was before, while 26 percent said Obama has made it better.
Strong indicators of the Democrats’ dire position are found in the individual states and races.
A new Quinnipiac poll puts former GOP Rep. Pat Toomey over Democrat Joe Sestak, 50-45, in a Pennsylvania US Senate race.
New Fox/Rasmussen polls give Republican Sharron Angle a 3-point edge over Democrat Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, and Republican Ken Buck a 4-point lead over Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
Fox also gives Republican Rep. Mark Kirk a 46-42 lead over Alexi Giannoulias in the fight over Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat, although it gives Democrat Sen. Patty Murray a 2-point lead over Dino Rossi in Washington.
Democrats are hoping to capitalize on Republican divisions in a three-way race in Alaska that they hope could leave little-known Democrat Scott McAdams the last one standing.
The stabilization of Democrats Barbara Boxer in California and Gov. Joe Manchin in West Virginia are making it a tall order for Republicans to seize control of the Senate, a feat requiring an arduous 10-seat gain with only a third of the chamber up for re-election.