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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

A real shift?

If this is accurate, it's pretty encouraging:

Hours before the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a showdown that will focus on domestic issues, a new national survey indicates that Americans have undergone some major changes on the basic questions concerning the size and role of the federal government.

[. . .]

"The biggest: The number of Americans who say that the government should promote traditional values has fallen to an all-time low, a finding that might benefit many Democrats," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the survey, just four in 10 registered voters believe the government should promote traditional values, down from 53% in 2010 and 57% in 2008.

[. . .]

But the poll also indicates the belief that the government is doing too much is also near historically high levels.

Six in 10 say the government is doing too much that should be left to individuals and businesses.

I say if because I have my doubts. The survey reveals a pretty libertarian attitude all the way around -- the federal government shouldn't do too much in general (and, by extension, not tax or spend too much), and I'll take care of my own values, "traditional" or otherwise, thank you very much. But as we've discussed here many times, it's easy to sound libertarian when it's not your ox being gored.

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