The 80% threshold...

It isn't everyday you find a poll of Americans that is as lopsided as this one. With 81% saying the country is on the wrong track, I think it is safe to say that we have issues. Additionally, only 4% -- that is one out of twenty-five people -- think the country is in better shape than it was five years ago. So, what is to be done? It looks like there is some support for a progressive solution involving raising taxes on the wealthy (58%), but this comes undone a bit when compared with only 43% preferring a larger role of government.

Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they would support raising taxes on households making more than $250,000 to pay for tax cuts or government programs for people making less than that amount. Only 38 percent called it a bad idea...

More broadly, 43 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer a larger government that provided more services, which is tied for the highest such number since The Times and CBS News began asking the question in 1991. But an identical 43 percent said they wanted a smaller government that provided fewer services.

All told it seems likely that the battle over those last 14% will be critical for establishing a policy mandate for the next administration. Personally, I see a need for significant reconsideration on our current fiscal policy. This may well involve raising taxes on the wealthy -- though I am not sure $250K is the best number to delineate being truly wealthy -- but also requires a review of our expenditure (general, entitlement, and tax) priorities. The current schema is, in my opinion, not sustainable over the long term. We need to reinvigorate the American ideal of producing more than we consume.