Poll shows how much the GOP is helping the Dems

As described here, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll (PDF file) shows that most respondents favor the Dems over the GOP on most issues.

For various issues, they were asked "When it comes to (READ ITEM), which party do you think would do a better job--the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, or both about the same? If you think that neither would do a good job, please just say so."

There are only three issues where the GOP is ahead:

- "Dealing with the war on terrorism": ahead by 9 points, but sharply down from being as high as 36 points ahead in October 2002.

- "Ensuring a strong national defense": ahead by 21 points, it was as high as 41 points ahead in June 2001.

- "Promoting strong moral values": has slightly slipped to ahead by 17 points.

Here are the breakdowns for other questions for which around a quarter said "Neither". The numbers from left to right represent these values:

Democrats better
GOP better
Both about the same
Neither
Unsure

"Dealing with gas prices"
39 11 19 24 7

"Controlling government spending"
34 22 14 26 4

"Promoting ethics in government"
27 22 19 26 6

"Dealing with immigration"
25 19 21 26 9

And, they were asked about "Allowing foreigners who have jobs but are staying illegally in the United States to apply for legal, temporary-worker status", which generated:

Congress should enact now: 33
Congress should enact later: 15
Congress should not enact: 47
not sure: 5

Politics · Mon, 12/05/2005 - 10:59 · · Importance: 1