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Voters Still See Democratic Agenda in Congress As More Extreme than GOP’s

Voters continue to feel the Republican agenda in Congress is less extreme than that of congressional Democrats.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters now describe the agenda of Republicans in Congress as mainstream, while nearly as many (38%) view it as extreme. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

At the same time, 38% of voters think the agenda of Democrats in Congress is mainstream, while nearly half (49%) believe it is extreme. Thirteen percent (13%) remain undecided.

This marks an improvement for Democrats from August of last year when 57% rated their congressional agenda as extreme and 34% said it was mainstream. Attitudes toward the GOP agenda in Congress have changed only slightly: In August, 45% said it was mainstream, 40% extreme.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters U.S. Voters was conducted on January 9-10, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

How do unaffiliated voters rate the agendas of the two political parties in Congress? How wide is the gap between Mainstream voters and the Political Class when it comes to congressional agendas? Become a Platinum member and find out. 

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