This approach is likely to be politically disastrous for Republicans. What the public has said over and over to the GOP about more tax cuts for the rich is a firm “no thanks.” In a recent Gallup poll, 60 percent of independents said that the next budget should include raising taxes on those making more than $250,000. As for revamping Medicare, this is an across-the-board stinker. Gallup found that “support for revamping Medicare is essentially no higher among Republicans than among Democrats, 34 percent vs. 30 percent.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel is licking his chops over the prospect of making the GOP pay for its overreach. He told The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent on Friday, “When we win back the majority, people will look back at this vote [for the Ryan plan] as a defining one that secured the majority for Democrats.”
A Republican strategist conceded to me, “There is a lot of truth to the argument that this is a big risk for Republicans. Everyone here sees Steve Israel’s comments… But Republicans on the Hill are under pressure to do big things.”
