I have pointed out in earlier postings how President Obama's personal approval ratings were much higher than approval of his policies, and wondered when this gap would be narrowed. Would Americans continue to strongly approve of the President's performance even though they did not like his policies as much? It appears that the answer to that question is "no".
Polls indicate a steep drop in the President's job approval by Americans. The Rasmussen poll shows for example that only 45% of those polled approve of the President's job performance while 53% disapprove. Gallup Daily tracking shows the President's job approval at 50%. This is a drop of 19% from his high of 69%. The Zogby Interactive Poll shows that 48% disapprove of the President's performance with only 42% approving. Zogby also points out that the sharp drop came from Democrats and from young voters.
The drop in Obama's job approval rating is particularly serious for him because he has yet to deal decisively with two huge problems - health care reform and the war in Afghanistan. One might have thought that with the economy apparently improving and the country backing away from the brink of depression, Obama's popularity would still be high. Not so. The health care reform proposals floating around, especially the public insurance option, are not popular with voters. So if Obama proceeds to push them through, assuming he even can, this should add to his negative numbers. The war in Afghanistan is "Obama's War". He has been campaigning for an aggressive US involvement there even before he became President. Yet it seems that popular support for this military engagement is not strong. So what is Obama to do? Back away from his war, or go full steam ahead?
Here is some trivia. Answer the following questions before you check out the figures.
One:
How long did it take George W Bush to fall below 50% after getting elected?
(a) 6 months
(b) two years
(c) three years
Two:
If Obama falls below 50% before November (and some polls already show him to be well below that), how would this compare to previous Presidents since World War II?
(a) it would place him in the average range
(b) it would be the fastest drop to below 50% ever
(c) it would be the third fastest drop to below 50% ever
Three:
What is the average time it takes to drop below 50%?
(a) 12 months
(b) 18 months
(c) 23 months
For answers, see the Gallup Poll.
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Hopefully what this means is that the honeymoon is over for American voters, but I'm guessing the recent converts are also feeling the sting of egg on their face with the impoverishment of the social vision he supposedly represented. I trust the poll numbers are a reliable indicator of the political pulse, but what's probably more troubling is that the remnants of his popularity are probably being supported by a fairly large contingent of low stake-holders, who have a greater interest in his public presence than the products he produces. I doubt his media popularity, for instance, is diminishing at the same rate.
ReplyDeleteI heard the Democrats are revamping the strategy over health care to lift and highlight bipartisanship, the "lets-just-focus-on-what-we-have-in-common" approach. Funny in what seemed to be an enlightened philosophy only a year ago seems now oddly desperate - how to unpaint onself from a corner
Stephen
"impoversishment of the social vision" ???
ReplyDelete"low stake-holders" ???
The greatest public reaction to Obama's substantive direction has been the opposition to his proposals for health-care reform. Too bad for America.
Ron C
Know your right wing ideologues:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.campusprogress.org/rws