According to new PPP poll, Republicans hate President Obama so much that they oppose his pardoning of Thanksgiving turkeys.
The examples of the GOP’s reflexive opposition to President Obama’s agenda are many but this may be the best one yet: by a 27 point margin Republicans say they disapprove of the President’s executive order last year pardoning two Thanksgiving turkeys (Macaroni and Cheese) instead of the customary one. Only 11% of Republicans support the President’s executive order last year to 38% who are opposed- that’s a pretty clear sign that if you put Obama’s name on something GOP voters are going to oppose it pretty much no matter what. Overall there’s 35/22 support for the pardon of Macaroni and Cheese thanks to 59/11 support from Democrats and 28/21 from independents.
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Republicans are so opposed to President Obama that they reject anything that he does. The turkey poll is a good example of why polling is more reflective of the partisan divide than actual positions on the issues. Any poll that asks a question about Obama’s policies by including his name is going to be rejected by Republicans. It doesn’t matter what the policy is, or if they really support the policy. If it has Obama’s name attached to it, they will be against it.
If the turkey question had been asked without Obama’s name on it, Republicans would have supported pardoning two turkeys. Unless Republicans now consider turkeys to be in the same categories as child refugees and immigrants, there is no reason to oppose pardoning two turkeys instead of one.
Republicans would still be referring to George W, Bush as the great turkey liberator who taught the terrorists a lesson in freedom if Bush would have pardoned more than one turkey at a time during his years in office.
The absurd Republican opposition to President Obama pardoning turkeys highlights why the president has to struggle to get anything done. Republicans view their mission as to oppose Obama. Republicans aren’t in Washington to govern. Most of them don’t care about governing. They believe that they were sent to Congress to oppose the president on everything.
And in the minds of Republicans, everything includes the pardoning of turkeys.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
