It was predictable that Republicans, lead by Mitch Daniel’s gloomy official response, would line up to trash President Obama’s state of the union speech and the major progressive proposals he advanced in it. But a recent National Journal poll, conducted 1/26-29 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, shows that the public strongly approved of the President’s proposals, according to TDS Co-Editor Ruy Teixeira’s latest ‘Public Opinion Snapshot‘. Teixeira explains:

In that poll, 76 percent supported imposing a minimum tax on money American companies earn overseas to encourage U.S. job creation. Seventy percent supported imposing a fee on large banks to be used to help homeowners refinance mortgages at low interest rates. Sixty-five percent supported establishing a new rule that those who earn $1 million or more annually must pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. And 58 percent supported reducing federal aid to colleges that raise tuition too fast.

Teixeira sees “a theme here: the idea that even big institutions and the wealthy need to conduct themselves responsibly and make contributions to the common good. These data show the public gets it even if conservatives don’t.”