If one reads this blog one might assume that the current president is very unpopular. However, we have been overly blessed with those who feel he is lower than a snake’s belly. There are also a fair number of people who also don’t engage.
Posted below is a comparison chart of presidential approval ratings. President Obama has gone from about an initial approval rating of 65% to a current one that vacillates between 42-50% approval. Compare that to these guys:
Remember Bill Clinton who was vilified by the right even before he took office? Remember the reports that showed he would have been elected for a third term? This was a president who went through an impeachment. It goes to show you that the people who are dissatisfied often are loud and proud and those who have no beef remain silent. It’s easier to get through the day.
As for the oil leak, what is it we would have him do?
Quite frankly, you can count me as one of those disapproving. I thought that Obama’s health care bill was too timid. I am also disappointed that he has not pushed more aggresively for comprehensive immigration reform. And I am disappointed witht the Wall St bailouts and the bonuses paid with my money. So yeah, count me as a disapproval.
Now, in three years if I have to choose between Obama and someone like Sara Palin, I’ll choose Obama.
Thus proving everything is ultimately relative.
My perception is Obama is unpopular because we have so many anti-establishment and Tea Party people screaming at the top of their lungs. Like you say, the quieter ones are just quiet.
That said, stats don’t reveal a whole truth.
As far as the oil spill, I don’t know what else Obama could do. Like I said before, no matter what he does, he will be criticized. What is Congress asking him to do?
That first sentence is screwed.
What I mean is this: the Tea Party people and the anti-establishment folks create the impression that Obama is unpopular.
I would suggest that no one should read much into a poll without looking at the crosstabs. They help you understand the details much better. (ie. is the drop in popularity among the left unsatisfied that Obama isn’t doing more, or is it with moderates or conservatives. It also shows age and racial breakdowns.)
I’m not going to say much more for fear of getting political, but I will say that if I were David Axelrod, I would be concerned about some of the crosstabs that are masked by the overall number.
(Ok, I’ll be specific for a minute. Gallup for instance has Obama’s approval at 41% among whites vs. 91% among blacks. The problem for Obama and Axelrod is that the black population is disproportionately located in states where Obama is already very popular such as NY, MI, IL, CA. A number of key states, including Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Florida have a higher percentage of white people in them and Obama’s approval ratings there are significantly under 50%. If Obama’s approval rating among whites is in the low 40s come 2012, it’s going to be a challenge for him to win the election. I’m not trying to start an electoral college debate yet, I’m just suggesting that the 50 point gap in approval ratings between blacks and whites will lead to some challenging electoral math come 2012.)
“Create the impression”………Uh-Huh.
The quiet ones:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/08/pelosi_heckled_at_dc_event_over_lack_of_federal_funding.html
Not sure what the point is. The people I would call liberal are unhappy with Obama because he has not closed Gitmo, fixed the don’t ask don’t tell problem, ended both wars. Clinton went through similar episodes of not appealing to the left.
As for the video, good to see that the left has people with tea party manners also. How freaking rude.
When all is said and done, most of the voters are in the middle. They aren’t real liberal and they aren’t real conservative. I don’t think either extreme ever thinks about what that great mass of people think–they only care about the other extreme. That is dangerous footing to be on.
Pinko, the illusion of unpopularity is really the part that can’t be seen.
Those who hated Obama from the beginning started long before he took office. And those are the people, for the most part, who claim to be Tea Party.
There are several components there and then there is the fact that we are in a recession with higher than normal unemployment. We also just came out of the biggest financial crisis since the Depression. I doubt that people now are any more dissatisfied than they were then. They can just access information far faster and we have the dubious honor of instant communication.
we have a recession with higher than normal unemployment…hmmm, i wonder why that might be? who would want to hire new folks and expand their company when we have a marxist redistributionist in the white house who is raising taxes on everyone, be it through cap-and-tax, healthcare, sunset of bush tax cuts, vat tax, etc etc?
obama got into office because he fooled a lot of folks into thnking he was a traditional moderate democrat, kinda like clinton. now more and more folks are seeing the truth, thanks in no small part to instant communication, which somehow is considered dubious because it cant be controlled by the regime (yet)
How funny. The uber liberals sure wouldn’t agree with your statement, e.
The health care is no surprise. He said he would deliver that one and he did.
Regardless of what the people wanted. Now it’s time to pay the price, politically.
It seems we have been paying and paying, for the past 10 years.
It is not the actual approval number that surprises. It is the fact that his popularity dropped so quickly this early in his term. Sort of similar to Jimmy Carter …..
“Well, when you anoint yourself King Canute,” remarked Charles Krauthammer the other day, “you mustn’t be surprised when your subjects expect you to command the tides.”
I am comparing the link to the chart above. Reagan and Clinton both were very popular presidents. Look at the approval ratings. Those of us not on a witch hunt are saving our energy for more important things that moaning and groaning about a president.
His seeming popularity and unpopularity are irrelevant. Bush was unpopular. The Left hated him. Obama IS unpopular among a large segment of the crowd. The Democratic Congress, however, at its nadir, approached about 17-19% approval.
All of these popularity contests are worthless. Unless, of course, said politicians change their plans in order to become popular, instead of doing what they think is best. Then we are screwed. Wait. They’re politicians. What they think is best is being popular.
We’re screwed.
Could be. I think looking at national trends over a long period of times probably tells more than meets the eye.
The spikes and huge dips are fairly easy to name, on the chart.
More like 40….with a few bright spots.