‘Top Line’ Book Corner: Frank Luntz’s “What Americans Really Want … Really”

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Republican pollster and message guru Frank Luntz is out with a new book that makes use of extensive of survey results of ordinary Americans. “What Americans Really Want…Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears” isn’t just about politics — though, as one might expect from Luntz, it contains sharp analysis with broad application in the political arena. As for what Americans want out of their politics — Luntz said there are lessons in the fervor displayed at town-hall meetings across the country. “They’re angry with the partisanship, they’re angry with the politics and that’s why they go to these town-hall meetings. It’s their only opportunity to be heard,” Luntz told us on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today. “And I say this to those members who’ve started to cancel these town hall meetings: Boy, you’re making a big mistake. Let people vent now, or they will absolutely vent on election day.” As for President Obama, Luntz said: “First off, they still like him as an individual. They like him as a person. But they are really turning against him in terms of his policies and where he’s moving forward. And so you’ve got this great dissonance. They don’t want to criticize him because they want him to succeed, but they don’t want to support him because they don’t want the policies to succeed. So they’re in this kind of quandary. And it’s one of the reasons why you see this anxiety and this frustration, this fear.” Republicans, he said, should be asking the question “why?”: “The American people don’t expect them to have the answers, because they’re the party on the out, and let’s face it, there’s nothing they can do in the House because the speaker’s never going to listen to them. So they have to frame the right questions.” Luntz’s book features some intriguing poll results, some of which you can view HERE. One highlight: 72 percent of respondents said they agree with the statement, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Watch the interview with Frank Luntz (where he also asks Gov. Martin O’Malley, D-Md., to intervene on behalf of his beloved Baltimore Orioles) HERE.