Message from Voters in 2010 is Same as Message in 2006

Former Politics PA, now National Journal reporter Alex Roarty asks (via a re-tweet) whether there is any evidence that voters rejected Republicans in 2006 due to overspending.

Luckily, I have a pretty good memory of all 3,000 blog posts I’ve written, including one in Nov. 2006 highlighting two election surveys showing voter concerns over government spending.

At that time, voters said they wanted government to cut spending, balance the budget, and make the federal tax cuts permanent. Voters also said they trusted Democrats more to cut spending, and that Republicans were “the party of Big Government.” Those perceptions flipped in 2010.

Of course, the Iraq War was the top concern for voters in 2006, and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was also a major issue. Likewise, health care reform and the economy were major issues in 2010.

But here is a straightforward message: the party voters felt would do the most to reduce government spending, taxes, and the size of government won handily in both 2006 and 2010.