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Slip Slidin' Away (Obama's Popularity)
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Democrats filibuster proof obama popularity rasmussen reports republicans SenateRasmussen Reports in a new survey that Obama, while still having decent popularity, is starting to see his numbers return to earth:
| 2009 | Strongly Approve |
Strongly Disapprove |
Approval Index |
Total Approve |
Total Disapprove |
| Jan | 43 | 20 | 23 | 62 | 34 |
| Feb | 39 | 25 | 14 | 59 | 39 |
| Mar | 37 | 30 | 7 | 57 | 42 |
| Apr | 35 | 31 | 4 | 55 | 44 |
| May | 35 | 29 | 6 | 57 | 42 |
| Jun | 34 | 32 | 2 | 54 | 45 |
These numbers should not be overly surprising considering the tremendous hyperbole that accompanied Obama’s campaign, election coverage, and his promises upon taking office. Obama is also facing a recession and foreign tests of his will from countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Afghanistan.
According to Rasmussen:
“Republicans and conservatives try to paint a portrait of declining support and weakness. Democrats and liberals see a president with unrivaled popularity and power. Both assessments are wrong.”
What is interesting is that Obama’s strongest supporters have become less so:
During that same time frame, the number of Democrats who Strongly Approve has slipped from 74% to 61%. Among those not affiliated with either major party, the number who Strongly Approve has fallen ten percentage points.
Part of this is the natural end-of-the-honeymoon period of any president’s new term but possibly has been aggravated by Obama’s decisions to re-instate, very slightly modify, or continue Bush programs such as indefinite detention and claim the same types of executive privileges Cheney did.
With falling popularity, however, comes the promise of actually needing to work with the other side of the aisle. We’ll see if Obama does this or tries to play hardball with his party’s filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
With such economy-killers as Cap and Trade looming Obama’s popularity looks to take even more of a beating.
But let’s remember that a president’s popularity can change over night for good or ill. After all, look at what happened to G.H.W. Bush and the Gulf War:
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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15:37
Quite simply put Harrison, the man LIED. What happened to all of his campaign promises?
15:51
It was opposite day!
17:18
We are in a deep recession and it is going to take a long time to work our way out of it. So it is natural for Obama’s popularity to slide while we all continue to feel fairly depressed, and he is the man in charge. I think the other factor is that Obama’s base of supporters is extremely disappointed with the amount of compromising he has done. They want him to prosecute Bush and Cheney, enact gay marriage, bash Wall Street, pay everyone to keep their houses, shut down every coal-powered power plant, etc. But of course Obama never promised to do any of that. He is a big believer in consensus and compromise, and the left wing base is not happy with that. They want payback!
My expectation is that as the economy continues to stink, Obama’s numbers will slide even further, and then when economic conditions improve, and people see a solid record of accomplishment on health care, energy, the environment, etc. his numbers will start to come back up.
(Click on my name and you will go to yet another post you have inspired me to do on the California budget mess, this one on my mediation blog.)
Joe Markowitz´s last blog ..The Dynamics of Impasse
18:48
Obama did promise to restore “law and order” but has embraced numerous Bush policies (because they worked!) as well as other issues. I’m sure his numbers will go up when the economy increases but his “popularity” was way too high to begin with.
22:53
You cannot post comments to that blog you listed.
21:06
I’ve heard that Obama was introducing the Russian president to US delegates, thus his non-handshakes were not snubs, he was merely introducing them.
Liberty Belle´s last blog ..Ultra-snub!
02:00
By what performance metrics will we be able to determine a solid record of accomplishment. The EPA has already come out and said that Cap and Trade won’t work, so what lies are we going to tell ourselves to prop those numbers up? Are we going to use the same metrics that currently indicate that medicare, medicaid, and social security are smashing successes to identify a record of accomplishment when it comes to Obama’s health care plan?
burro´s last blog ..Master of the House: From capitalist empire to medieval fiefdom in 6 months
13:13
Silly Obama and his homeboys are so desperate lol.. I wonder how many illegal immigrants arrive here daily?
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/07/dear-leader-the-fix-is-in-for-the-long-term.html
20:11
If the predictions concerning unemployment and the depression/recession comes to be Obama’s ratings will not see the light of day! Hopefully Americans will unite and defeat the current administrations game plan.
20:17
While the outcome for those who want Obama out of office would be positive the causes would not.