The Mind of America, Part 2

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Via the latest New York Times poll, here’s the Obama administration’s problem in a nutshell:

This is, of course, a simple factual question with a simple factual answer: Obama has lowered taxes for virtually all Americans. Unfortunately, hardly anyone knows it.

In other news, people hate Democrats but hate Republicans even more; they’re unsure if Obama has a clear plan for solving the nation’s problems but they’re absolutely sure Republicans don’t; they think Democrats have better ideas than Republicans; they think Democrats are more likely than Republicans to help the middle class and small businesses; they blame George Bush and Wall Street for the crappy economy; they think the stimulus package probably improved the economy;1 they support Obama’s plan to allow Bush’s tax cuts for the rich to expire; they think Obama is doing more to improve the economy than congressional Republicans; and they hate Sarah Palin and are less likely to vote for anyone she supports.2

Oh, and they’re going to kick Democrats out of office this November anyway. Bummer, guys.

1But they’re less likely to vote for someone who supported it anyway.

2In fairness, the public also continues to dislike the healthcare bill and they continue to think that Republicans are better on terrorism than Democrats. That’s about it for favorable impressions of Republicans.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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