Despite  their reservations and concerns, many Americans are undoubtedly  breathing a sigh of relief following the seemingly manufactured crisis that finally allowed passage of a last minute deal to yet again raise the nation’s debt ceiling.   The professional partisans of the Democratic and Republican parties,  on the other hand, continue to hyperventilate.

Americans do not appear impressed by the results of the debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders in the Democratic and Republican parties. A CNN poll (.pdf) conducted on Monday gauging public opinion on the bipartisan  agreement reached over the weekend found that Americans disapprove of  the plan 52% to 44%. Indeed, a slim majority of 51% disapproved of the  fact that the debt ceiling was raised at all.  While Independents and  Republicans opposed raising the debt ceiling by fairly wide margins (61% and  64% respectively), Democrats were generally much more supportive, with 74% giving their stamp of approval.

Respondents across partisan lines were much more supportive of the spending cuts included in the  agreement.  72% of Republicans, 68% of Democrats, 60% of Independents  favored cuts that would reduce government spending by around one  trillion dollars over the next ten years.

In  the weeks leading up to the Tuesday deadline, the President stressed  over and over again that he supported a “balanced approach” that would  both cut spending and raise taxes.  However, the final plan does not  include any tax increases for big business or high income earners.  60%  of respondents disapproved of the fact that spending cuts were not  paired with any such tax code reforms, including 77% of Democrats and  59% of Independents.  Republicans, on the other hand, were  overwhelmingly supportive of this aspect of the agreement: 61% approved  while 39% disapproved.

Among  Democrats and Republicans, perceptions of how the President and  congressional leaders of both parties dealt with the debt negotiations are falling out along predictable partisan lines.  Democrats strongly approved  of the way President Obama and congressional Democrats handled the  process, while Republicans strongly disapproved.  On the other hand,  Republicans strongly approved of the way congressional Republicans  handled the negotiations, while Democrats held the opposite view.

Independents,  however, disapproved of the way the process was handled by all parties  to the process.  58% disapproved of President Obama’s handling of the  crisis, 69% disapproved of congressional Republicans' negotiating  strategy and 71% disapproved of the way Democratic leaders in  Congress comported themselves throughout.

These  results are not surprising given that, unlike Democrats and  Republicans, Independents have virtually no representation in the  Congress.  This simple, glaring fact did not go unnoticed by cable  news media, which typically exclude Independents from their debates and discussions.   CNN’s Don Lemon, for instance, invited a number of Independent  activists onto his program to discuss the marginalization of Independents over the course of the rancorous debt ceiling negotiations.  Lemon even went so far as to basically admit the mainstream media’s complicity in this  state of affairs, introducing the segment by noting that the Independent  panel, which included Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice, Nicole Neily  of the Independent Women’s Forum and Professor Omar Ali, had not been  invited onto the program since February 2010.

“There’s  lots of talk about the extremes dominating the debt limit debate, so  where’s the independent voice in all of this?” asked Lemon. “The  Independent voice is getting edged out as the center is clearly under  attack,” said Gandelman. “We’ve been left out of the process for so  long because both sides have been able to buy votes,” said Neily.  “It’s  not getting any better,” she concluded, despite being encouraged by the  fact that there were no earmarks under consideration in the deal.

The  bipartisan agreement has certainly not created more amicable relations  between the partisans of the major parties. In recent days, Democratic  party ideologues have compared Republicans to terrorists and Republican party ideologues have wished Democrats to hell.

“Voters  may have chosen divided government but they sure didn’t vote for  dysfunctional government,” said the President yesterday.  With each  passing day, it seems to become more and more evident that a vote for  Democrats and Republicans is indeed a vote for dysfunctional government,  whether divided or not.  Is it any wonder that Americans are leaving  the major parties in droves?