I'd like to think that this polling result is as significant as Instapundit thinks:

Among all Americans, a 39% plurality say the single most important thing for Congress to accomplish this year is curtailing budgetary "earmarks" benefiting only certain constituents.

Sounds like a political tsunami that will sweep away earmarks, right?

Probably not. First of all, though the number is high, it's not a majority. And even if it were, there's a familiar phenomenon, in which large numbers disapprove of Congress, but like their own Congress(wo)man. It's all those other clowns that are the problem. I suspect that they'll have the same attitude toward pork. They oppose it in principle, but when it comes to benefitting them, I suspect that most people will take the money and let their Congressman run. One man's pork is another man's vital district need.

> Among all Americans, a 39% plurality say the single most important thing
> for Congress to accomplish this year is curtailing budgetary "earmarks"
> benefiting only certain constituents.

That's a meaningless statement, unless you know the menu of options polltakers were presented with. The article only mentions one other choice, however: immigration reform.

According to this article, 71% of all Americans picked earmarks or immigration reform as the most important issue for Congress.

That means all other issues, combined, got just 29%.

I find it hard to believe that most Americans consider earmarks and immigration reform more important than the Iraq War, so I'm guessing that Iraq wasn't on the list. What was?

From the two top choices, I'm guessing that pollsters asked only about specific Congressional issues that have been in the news lately. Without further information, all you can really say from this report is that Americans care more about curtailing earmarks than they do about immigration reform.

I think a more reasonable goal is pork mitigation. Rather than trying to eliminate pork, just cut back overall. I think one could get enough support for that.

sounds like most of them are tired of the booosh administration