Stanley Greenberg and James Carville

from the January 28, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0128/p20s02-usmb.html

By David T. Cook

Democracy Corps cofounders Stanley Greenberg (l.) and James Carville were Thursday's guests. They discussed results of an opinion poll the group conducted Jan. 16-20. Here are excerpts from their remarks:

On the nation's mood:

(Greenberg) "The election is just a blip that people went past without the slightest change in the mood and ... in support for the president. On Inauguration Day, 46 percent wanted to go in Bush's direction, and 50 percent said they wanted to go in a significantly different direction."

On response to Bush's call for reforming Social Security via private investment accounts:

(Greenberg) "The only thing that matters here is age. There is overwhelming opposition among seniors and near- retirees - anyone 50 or over.... If we are looking for issues that have the ability to create passions and change the character of the electorate, obviously Social Security is one."

On how Democrats view their own party today:

(Greenberg) "What is striking is a 12-point drop [since a similar poll in November] in Democrats' view ... of the Democratic Party."

On efforts to select a new party chairman:

(Carville) "We are out here flopping around for two months.... Somebody should have fixed this in November."

On Democrats and the issue of abortion:

(Carville) "What people want [is that] the party can be pro-choice, but not all that enthusiastic about it."

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