Earmarks:  Public prefers pork to tea!

As reported in Congress Daily, a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that despite all the negative publicity about earmarks, American voters are still more likely to vote for congressional candidates with a history of bringing home the bacon.

Fifty-three percent of the public said they were more likely to vote for a person on the ballot who had brought government projects and money to their home district.  Only 12 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for the candidate, while 33 percent, said it would make no difference either way.

Even a plurality of Republicans, who have made the most hay in Congress out of earmarks, want the money to keep flowing.  Forty-seven percent of Republicans said they were more likely to vote for someone who supplied the pork, compared to 17 percent who said they were less likely. Thirty-five percent said it wouldn't make any difference in how they weigh their vote.

That closely tracked with independents -- 46 percent said they were more likely to vote for someone who brought government goodies back home, compared to 12 percent who were less likely and 39 percent who said it wouldn't make a difference.