Thursday Open Thread [3.26.15]

A new CNN/ORC poll “finds 53% saying things are going well, 46% badly. That’s the highest share saying things are going well that CNN/ORC polls have found during Obama’s time in office…Assessing Obama’s presidency overall, 50% consider his time in office a success, 47% a failure. And for those who say his time in office has been a failure, 37% say that’s been because of his own actions, while just 9% attribute it to Congress blocking the President from action…Nearly two-thirds (63%) disapprove of the Democratic leaders in Congress, while 74% disapprove of the Republican leadership. That’s worse than in March 2011, when 64% said they disapproved of GOP leadership a few months after the party took control of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Meanwhile, on the issue of marriage equality, from the HuffPollster: “Support for gay marriage has become the majority opinion, and voters now also say they’re more likely to reject a presidential candidate opposed to gay marriage than one who backs it — something gay marriage advocates hope marks a political tipping point for 2016. In a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, more than a third of voters say they don’t care what position a candidate takes on the issue, but those who do care say they favor gay rights by an 8-point margin. Thirty-four percent of voters say they’d prefer a presidential candidate to support gay marriage, and just 26 percent say they’d prefer a candidate to oppose it.”

FLORIDA–SENATOR–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Public Policy Polling: Allen West (R) 38, Pam Bondi (R) 25, Jeff Atwater (R) 12, Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R) 8
FLORIDA–SENATOR–Public Policy Polling: Pam Bondi (R) 45, Patrick Murphy (D) 41; Jeff Atwater (R) 41, Murphy (D) 39; Murphy (D) 41, Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R) 34; Murphy (D) 41, Allen West (R) 39

LOL, I guarantee the GOP will nominate Allen West and throw this Senate seat away.

In a surprise to no one, Rand Paul has flip flopped on defense spending as he prepares to announce his run for the Presidency.

“Just weeks before announcing his 2016 presidential bid, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is completing an about-face on a longstanding pledge to curb the growth in defense spending. In an olive branch to defense hawks hell-bent on curtailing his White House ambitions, the libertarian Senator introduced a budget amendment late Wednesday calling for a nearly $190 billion infusion to the defense budget over the next two years—a roughly 16 percent increase.”

Paul’s only chance to win a general election is to maintain his libertarian-esque credibility. But he is shedding that in order to be more acceptable to the GOP base that he needs to win the nomination. It is a Catch-22 for him.

E.J. Dionne: “Although Cruz has always been a religious conservative, the senator from Texas is much better known for his crusade against Obamacare and his willingness to shut down the federal government. His evangelical turn is his first play to create a base on the right end of the party to challenge Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as the main alternative to Jeb Bush.”

“The Cruz strategy starts with marginalizing former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson, the physician and best-selling author who has developed a significant following on the right. Huckabee and Carson are also in the running for evangelical votes. If Cruz pushes them aside, he can then go after Walker and, after that, Bush. Perhaps all this is fanciful, but Cruz knows what he’s doing.”