Gallup: Record Preference For ‘One Party Rule’

From Gallup:

Americans’ Preference Shifts Toward One-Party Government

Change in preferences driven mostly by Democrats

by Andrew Dugan | Thurs September 27, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A record-high 38% of Americans prefer that the same party control the presidency and Congress, while a record-low 23% say it would be better if the president and Congress were from different parties and 33% say it doesn’t make any difference. While Americans tend to lean toward one-party government over divided government in presidential election years, this year finds the biggest gap in preferences for the former over the latter and is a major shift in views from one year ago.

And yet we are constantly told by the news media that voters want more compromise. More reaching across the aisle. (From the Republicans, of course.)

These findings are based on Gallup’s annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 6-9. The data show an increased level of support for one-party rule amid a currently divided government in which the Democrats control the presidency and the Senate, while the Republicans control the House. This suggests many Americans are experiencing divided-government fatigue…

So ‘diversity is our strength,’ except when it comes to government. Or diversity of political thought.

Democrats (49%) are now more likely than Republicans (36%) or independents (28%) to favor one-party government.

And yet we are always told that it’s the Republicans who want to govern with an iron fist. That it’s the Republicans who hate compromise.

There may be several reasons for this. Democrats currently control the presidency and many Democrats may be frustrated that President Barack Obama cannot enact his legislative agenda without the help of a sympathetic Congress…

Not to mention that Democrats seem to have a thing for third world, ‘strong man’ style government. (Cf., Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez.)

Democrats’ preference for unified government rose significantly this year — to 49%, compared with 35% last year. Independents also became more favorable to one-party government this year, up seven percentage points compared with 2011. Republicans did not see a significant change…

If you look at the chart (above) it is quite an amazing spike. That is not a healthy sign.

Apparently, Americans have amazingly short memories. We had one party rule for the first two years of the Obama administration. And the voters liked it so much they threw out the Democrats in the next election in an historic landslide.