Obama's approval rating drops to all-time low; Public split on jobs plan

[Lasher]

Source: CBS News

As concerns about the struggling U.S. economy grow, a new CBS News/New York poll finds that President Obama's overall approval rating has dropped to 43 percent, the lowest so far of his presidency in CBS News polling. In addition, his disapproval rating has reached an all-time high of 50 percent.

Views of the president's job performance are marked by a striking degree of polarization along party lines -- the vast majority of Democrats approve (78 percent), while even more Republicans disapprove (89 percent) of how he's handling his job. But only 37 percent of independents approve, with 54 percent disapproving.

Except for a notable spike in approval after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May, President Obama's approval rating has been below 50 percent since the spring of 2010.

Not surprisingly, the down economy has had a clear impact on Mr. Obama's approval rating.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20107584-503544.html

---

Obama's all-time low in the Real Clear Politics composite was on 8/31/11, at 43.0%.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html

[pinboy3niner]

1. Unrec

[bread_and_roses]

3. Why the unrec?

Although polls are always problematic to one degree or another, the reporting on this one does not seem to be egregiously awful. It at least discusses some of the internals, breaks out Party differences, and notes that within the "split" opinions on the Jobs plan "most Americans support some of the specific individual elements included in the president's plan."

I think that the sentence "Not surprisingly, the down economy has had a clear impact on Mr. Obama's approval rating" oversteps the subjectivity line a bit - I would think that something about the correlation, or lack thereof, between presidential approval ratings and the state of the economy would be more useful.

Surely, on a political board, news about the president's approval ratings is legitimate? I thought the "unrec" so puzzling that I "R'ed" the OP simply to counter it, something I almost never do. However, the count remained at "0," so yours is not the only "unrec."

Are we now objecting to any posts that can be perceived as reflecting unfavorably on Obama, no matter the content?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

46. Just because.

[QC]

91. Failure to clap loudly enough can bring about the death of Tinkerbell.

I saw it in a movie once.

[defendandprotect]

99. +1

They don't want liberals around effecting party policy or calling for

change -- but they still want them to vote for the "lesser evil" --

and they want the $$$ --

[emilyg]

62. I'll rec.

[BlueCaliDem]

65. I've unrec'd, too.

This is a BIASED post because it doesn't show that although the President's approval ratings are low, those of Congress are MUCH lower. This tells me, the country is fed-up with how government has been working as a whole.

Sure, President Obama's approval numbers could be higher, but his are not out of the ordinary compared to past presidents.

On the other hand, congressional Repubes are at 19% and Congressional Democrats stand at around 21%. What's unprecedented is, and irrespective of, about half of the American electorate would LOVE vote their own congressional reps and senators OUT.

So, I've unrec'd this OP in light of fairness and in support of a broader view of our political climate.

[Fumesucker]

103. No, most Americans don't want to vote out their representation..

For the most part Americans think their own representation is doing at least OK.

They want to vote out everyone else's representation.

That's why the turnover rate in Congress is as low as it is while the approval rate for them as a whole is approaching the teens.

[Deep13]

78. We can deny it all we want...

...but Nov. 2012 will still happen. Honestly, he should retire and let someone fresh take the nomination.

[Life Long Dem]

80. Who's denying the Republican numbers are MUCH lower?

[Deep13]

81. I hope you are right...

...but you know how the RW spin machine is. I sure as shit don't want another Scalia on the court. My concern is that no president since WW2 has been reelected with >7% unemployment.

[defendandprotect]

100. Advocating for the "we're now as low as they are" vote?

[Kolesar]

2. (Your vote: -1)

[BlueJazz]

4. Since 1/2 of the American populace have no idea what the fuck is going on..

...most of the time, 43% sounds about right.

[tblue]

61. "Dems always love me. Center not so much, Repubs hate me. Therefore, I must tack righter."

What concerns me is what Pres. Obama will do with these polls.

The polling says Dems are loyal and back him already, so there's no need to worry about their support. It also says he's lost most of the center and needs to win them back. To hedge his bets, he should also try to get a piece of the Repubs.

How does he do that? By moving to the right. And that would be: talking deficit reduction and program cuts curbing regulations, and caving on taxes.

[Lorien]

93. The Third Way Dems always misread the independents. They aren't Right Wing

many of the are far to the Left of the Democratic party. Others are libertarian, and still more are apolitical so they'll never vote anyway. If Obama were smart he'd move Left and recapture his base. They WILL sit at home like they did in 2010 if he doesn't. However, listening to his cheerleaders here makes it obvious that they learned nothing from 2000. THEY want to push further right in a delusional attempt to capture the prized "independents" while tossing the entire base in the process.

[Deep13]

79. and yet they vote.

:(

[annabanana]

5. No, Thank YOU, idiot CorpoMedia©

NOT informing people for over 30 years.

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Reagan was at 43% in 1983. Bush Sr. soared through his presidency. Polls do not

correlate well with elections.

[Lasher]

33. That is a good point. Both Reagan and Clinton were below 50% for most of their 2nd & 3rd years.

But both of them went above 50% at the beginning of their fourth years and stayed there until after they had been reelected.



http://pollkatz.homestead.com/

[Hawkowl]

57. They correlate with unemployment

If unemployment stays above 8%, Obama will lose. Period. Reagan won because the employment made a recovery. Bush I lost because unemployment was accelerating AND Ross Perot ran, primarily against free trade.

[FarLeftFist]

7. Am I the only one who thinks that 43% is pretty good considering the current economy?

The highest Obama could get would probably be about 60% being that there is NO WAY the fright-wing will ever approve of him. 60%=100%

[MrDiaz]

13. lol

nice math

[FarLeftFist]

43. On his first day in office his approval rating was 67%, before passing any legislation.

First day in office 33% of people already disapproved. These people will NEVER vote for him or give him any credit for ANYTHING. So yeah, 60% at this point would be phenomenal.

[TwilightGardener]

21. It's not that bad, I agree. We're in a depression, according to Paul Krugman.

[Yo_Mama]

60. No - his general numbers are significantly above

what you would expect given the circumstances, especially the economy. People like him.

However his polling numbers tend to drop on issues polling, which is more of a concern.

[elocs]

8. Now imagine that this is September 2012. Scary thought, isn't it?

Many of us had better wake up to the real possibility that Obama may not win another term and that one of those Republicans that we deride and think is a joke will be elected president and have a GOP congress that will rubber stamp an agenda to stamp out anything Democrats hold dear.

[certainot]

10. silly! the only way that could happen is if the right had 1000 coordinated radio stations blasting

50 mil people a week with whatever the corporate think tanks want, to dominate media messaging so it didn't matter what obama did or said, and it went completely ignored by the left.

[tex-wyo-dem]

27. That's an outrageous suggestion...

Sounds like some kind of crazy conspiracy theory to me..."Orwellian," one might say ;)

[AndyTiedye]

82. They Have Every Tee Vee Station in the Country and Almost Every Radio Station and Newspaper

the only way that could happen is if the right had 1000 coordinated radio stations blasting 50 mil people a week with whatever the corporate think tanks want, to dominate media messaging so it didn't matter what obama did or said,

Faux Nooze alone is far more than that, and they actually have ALL of the Tee Vee stations in the USA spewing their message, along with nearly all of the radio stations and newspapers.

and it went completely ignored by the left.

Does it matter what the left says or does, when it doesn't even matter what Obama says or does?

[certainot]

87. i disagree- fox depends completely on RW radio- like a tick on limbaugh's ass

tv still has to pretend to be balanced, even fox. fox has a smaller audience and it mainly functions to put visual icing on the talk radio lie turd pie.

it also has competition, even though most of it is lame and corporatized. for politics it is easy to change the tv station but for most of the country while driving or working there is NO free alternative for political talk radio.

tv doesn't do the hours and hours of repetition. and fox has a smaller audience.

corporate tv is more significant for what it leaves out. fox talking heads cannot create with uncontested repetition like radio can.

[dotymed]

16. Maybe, that would wake Americans up. I would prefer that

Obama be successfully primarried by a proven Progressive. The only way we are going to get some real, progressive change, is by real (not a few teabagging retards) Americans taking to the streets and Demanding it.

President Obama gave us a few crumbs of change, which is better than we were getting, but with each passing day, he has veered farther to the right. A "Democratic" President that happily destroys social programs

(they are not "entitlements") rather than Force tax reinstatement on the wealthy is shit. He has a "bully pulpit," he is an excellent speaker, he just is not Progressive. His campaign promises started disintegrating on his inauguration.

He has been the most disappointing president in my life. I believed his "change" meme which was all posturing and telling us what we wanted to hear. We did get a few crumbs in "Obamacare" but it turned out to

be insurance reform not health care reform.

His continuation (and expansion) of war and Bush Doctrine has continually robbed Americans of ALL civil rights. The magic words are national security instead of abracadabra...

[PragmaticLiberal]

24. What's the point of primarying President Obama?

Even if he's defeated in the primary, the winner still wouldn't win the general.


Not without the support of the "base".

[Auntie Bush]

37. A more progressive presidnt won't do a damn thing done unless we get a Democratic congress.

All the talk about primarying him is for nothing. We must defeat The Teabaggers to get anything progressive accomplished.

Maybe if all the naysayers put all that energy into helping get their own congress person into office...we could accomplish something good.

[Amonester]

52. Apart from a nationwide General Strike that will probably not happen,

mostly because millions of people struggle to barely survive paycheck to paycheck and they have no time left to do any 'politics', you stated the real deal: everything must pass through a progressive Democratic congress.

'Wishing' the President can do everything alone is just that: wishing.

[bread_and_roses]

70. Well now, Auntie, some of us worked our asses off between '04 & '08

to send a D Pres with D majorities to DC. We did. And the first thing our D Pres did was appoint Clinton "third way" left-overs and Wall Street lap-dogs to his inner circle.

Been there, done that, it was my last gasp (voter since 1968) and I ain't putting faith in the electoral system again.

We'll maybe get somewhere with direct street action (non-violent, of course). And then again, maybe we won't. But at least we won't have worked fingers and feet to the bone for an illusion.

[dotymed]

38. Do you believe that President Obama

has the support of the "base?" His "base" was the people who wanted "change we can believe in," not continued RW doctrine.

According to the available information (which are polls by corporatists and they do not want these results), the majority of Americans want the same "changes."

An end to the wars, universal health care, strengthened social security and medicare... Of course the extremely vocal and obnoxious retards don't want you to believe this.

With the support of the majority and IF we have real elections, a person (preferably with a proven record of working for these changes) can win the Presidency and with help from the electorate, enact these changes.

[oberliner]

49. Who do you believe could be that person?

Is there a "proven progressive" that you have in mind?

[BlueMTexpat]

101. I keep asking that question too.

I never get an answer. :shrug:

Sure, there are a lot of good people out there, but none is perfect - certainly none is a better alternative for 2012. As I recall, even President Obama - who ultimately won with a solid mandate in 2008 - was not leading the Dem pack by this time in 2007. No other Dem will have time to put together the financial resources required or will unify Dem voters enough in time for the 2012 election better than President Obama - as a sitting President - already can.

So I tend to believe that these "new," "fresh," "proven progressive," "anyone else" or "primary Obama" posts are a) put here by people who don't have a clue what they are talking about or b) deliberately intended to disrupt and promote distrust.

The posts will continue either because of a) or b). Or just because. But I do not believe that they are helpful at all and get VERY tired of seeing them on a Dem website. JMO.

[PragmaticLiberal]

76. I think you and I are referring to different "bases".

I was referring to the AA vote.

[LiberalLovinLug]

47. Why wouldn't a new more progressive candidate win?

Against the clown club the other side is running.

All we need is a progressive talking, REAL hope n change candidate with a little charisma. You know, like Obama was supposed to be.

After all it worked in 2008. The MSM still wants us to believe the country is vastly right of center. Yet Obama won even though he was perceived and portrayed as the most liberal candidate in history. It seems to me that the majority of voters in the US are just itching for someone to come in and REALLY shake up the status quot.

[AndyTiedye]

83. The People Are Awake, and they are Angry, BUT

when they wake up they turn on the Tee Vee, and the Tee Vee tells them who to be angry at.
and the Repigs control the Tee Vee.

THAT is the problem.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

17. Isn't stamping out everything liberals hold dear Obama's job?

[SammyWinstonJack]

42. Seems too be. Sad, isn't?

x(

[RBInMaine]

26. Right, so everyone who is "unenthusiastic" needs to grow the hell up and stop the whining.

[elocs]

28. Well, didn't we go through the meme in 2000 that there was no difference between the parties?

And how did that work out for the country?

The next president will either be Obama or the Republican candidate, that's it. If it were food and I had a choice between one that would make me puke and one that would kill or nearly do me in I know which choice I would make.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

31. Both meals you're putting in front of me are poisonous.

[elocs]

41. No. One may make you sick. The other kills you. Simple.

Both do not have the same ultimate consequences.

Cry me a river when there is a President Romney or Perry with a Republican controlled Congress to rubber stamp everything. Or maybe you are one of those well-off DUers who can afford to move to Canada or elsewere.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

45. Remind me again how Obama differs from Bush.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

29. Blue Dog Democrats need to stop whining about real Democrats.

[No Elephants]

39. This is Obama vs. some ideal in someone's head, not Obama vs. Romney.

This poll does not tell us much about an election. Besides, it's too soon for that.

[Jackpine Radical]

59. Not to mention maybe 4 Supreme Court noms.

That would give us another generation of Roberts clones to oversee our liberties.

[BlueCaliDem]

67. I'm sticking with Allan Lichtman's more educated prediction that Pres. Obama will win a 2nd Term...

...because, since 1984, he has yet to proven wrong(http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/08/31/allan_lichtman_never_wrong_pundit_predicts_2012_win_for_obama.html) while many here have been proven wrong again, and again, and again...and yet seem to enjoy unusual popularity bashing our DEMOCRATIC President on a DEMOCRATIC SITE.

There's more of that here than at Huffington Post, for chrissakes!

Edited to add link.

[newblewtoo]

85. and if I flip three heads in a row

does that mean I will automatically flip a fourth? While that is an impressive streak I would not say it guarantees infallibility.

Not all change is progress nor does everyone hope for the same thing. I am reminded of a quote by Thoreau: If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau

Not only is it to early to concede defeat, it is also too early to pretend we can claim victory if only everyone just thinks happy thoughts. There are lots of uninformed voters out there and the rethuglicans will be beating this drum long and loud.

Pretending there is nothing wrong with this administration is a sure ticket to the political graveyard. One thing which might help is to get more progressives involved in this administration now.

[BlueCaliDem]

90. We'll see how infallible Lichtman's predictions are. Did you know

that, according to Lichtman as he explained it on Martin Bashir's show, that during GHW's reelection, a red state, little known Democratic governor was interested in his predictions, and wrote him and asked if there was a chance the incumbent President could lose reelection? Or if was a waste of time trying.

Allan Lichtman wrote back stating, "Go for it." The rest is history, and eight years of peace, prosperity, and balanced budgets.

Not thinking happy thoughts here. Just holding off tossing President Obama, and thus also this country, to the Right-wing pack of wolves corporate media is currently hot and heavy in bed with.

[Botany]

9. Ah the 24 hour news cycle and endless polling ....

Did I ever tell you about the poll showing Hilary Clinton w/ a 30 point lead
before the democratic primaries?

[pinboy3niner]

11. :)

[MrDiaz]

14. was it a legitamate poll?

I usually look at gallup they have alot of different details.

[Lasher]

19. Yes, it's legitimate.

If you follow the link I furnished in the OP and scroll down, you will see a section titled, More from the CBS News/NYT poll:. There you can select Read the complete poll (PDF) to see all the details of the poll results.

Gallup currently gives Obama a 39% approval rating BTW.

[BlueCaliDem]

68. Wasn't it a 40 point lead? ;-) eom

[NYC_SKP]

12. His numbers would go waaaay up if only we'd be attacked by terrorists and he could start a war...

But that's already been done.

I'm happy with not having all that happen again.

Low information poll respondents.

This country is riddled with 'em!

:patriot:

[Lasher]

20. That has always struck me as supreme irony.

Public opinion swung so strongly in favor of the fool who ignored clear warnings and left us open to attack.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. "...the vast majority of Democrats approve (78 percent)"

which puts DU is in another universe. :crazy:

[Lasher]

22. That is notable but I don't think DU is the same as your average Democrat.

We are political junkies.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. He needs to burn all the books about Ronald Reagan he read, and needs to START READING THE NEW DEAL

He needs to burn all the books he read about Ronald Reagan and burn the posters of him he keeps in his home, and needs to START READING EVERYTHING HE CAN ABOUT ROOSEVELT, THE NEW DEAL, THE DEPRESSION, AND WORSHIPPING ROOSEVELT.

He needs to stop appealing to GOPers, stop kowtowing to GOPers, start attacking GOPers, start showing SOME TOUGHNESS! This is not a hayride! This is not a time to be mild, relaxed, meditative, and friendly. This is an EMERGENCY, for God's sakes.

He needs to start reaching out to Democrats, STOP reaching out to Repukes, stop placing GOPers in posts... ETCETERA!

It's been YEARS of his presidency and he's STILL not doing any of this!

[fascisthunter]

34. his Agenda is to Destroy the New Deal and turn the Democratic Party into a Corporate Lobby

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

51. I hope that's not it.

But doesn't he care to have Democrats back him up? His only chance is Democrats.

[Mosaic]

66. Excellent!

Well said! :toast: :fistbump: :applause:

[secondwind]

23. I really wish these posts would disappear........ We need positivity around here......

Obama's approval ratings are not any worse than Clinton's in his first year, or Reagan's. And considering the viciousness of this new crop of Teabagger Republicans, I am proud of the way our President is letting all of this roll off his back and staying on message.......

We need to stand behind our candidate for 2012.........

[Lasher]

30. This is a highly appropriate topic for a political discussion board like DU.

I don't like the news either but I don't think it should be ignored.

[totodeinhere]

53. I don't know about you but I prefer to keep my eyes wide open.

If Obama's polling numbers are down I want to know about it. I don't care if it's negative or not, if it's a legitimate poll then lets have it out in the open.

[emilyg]

64. We'll be positive here when

we get positive from Washington.

[RBInMaine]

25. Hogshit corporate spin. Ask the question: "Should Congress pass the jobs bill?" and you'd have 75%

saying Yes. These polls are spun based on how they are worded. It's corporate crap reporting.

[totodeinhere]

54. But those are two different questions. It would be quite plausible to want to see the jobs bill

passed while disapproving of the job Obama is doing as president at the same time. There is a lot more to Obama than the jobs bill.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

95. Bingo. Corprats hate Obama. You won't get any 'fair and balanced' reporting out of them

about him.

[Beacool]

32. Yesterday, today and tomorrow: It's the economy, stupid.

The fundamentals don't change.

:shrug:

[disndat]

48. It's also the Supreme Court, Stupid!

How would the Obama bashers like clones of Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS if the Tea Party or any Repugs get into the WH in 2012? There is no question that Obama will get reelected, but what we really have to worry about is a Republican Congress, a repeat of 2010, with, worse case scenario, a Republican Senate.

[totodeinhere]

55. There is no question that Obama will get reelected?

"Obama is no longer the favorite to win re-election," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

Some people in the know don't agree with your assessment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/06/obama-economy-polls-idUSN1E78505N20110906

Personally, I would rate Obama as a favorite at this point, but too much can happen between now and election day to make that a complete certainty yet.

[dotymed]

89. It doesn't seem to matter to Obama or his

"Justice department." Thomas, despite his OBVIOUS CRIMES is still a "justice." We would be in a for-profit prison.

That is the "low hanging fruit," There are 3 other justices breaking every ethical code written, ion the open.

Fuck that excuse. Primary his R/W ass.

[ProSense]

35. Interesting poll

The President's approval is at 43 percent, in line with most other polls.

Still, these numbers from the OP are interesting:

Views of the president's job performance are marked by a striking degree of polarization along party lines -- the vast majority of Democrats approve (78 percent), while even more Republicans disapprove (89 percent) of how he's handling his job. But only 37 percent of independents approve, with 54 percent disapproving.

<...>



Some of these proposals even receive bipartisan support. Large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike think cutting taxes for small business is a good idea, and most also think a payroll tax cut is a good idea. Majorities think spending money on the country's infrastructure is a good idea - but Democrats (90 percent) support that to a far greater degree than Republicans (62 percent). One area in which Democrats and Republicans do not agree is providing money to state governments -- while 72 percent of Democrats think that is a good idea, just 29 percent of Republicans do.

The President's approval is not as dire as the headline implies, but more striking is that approval for the elements of the President's proposal is extremely high.

This is also the poll that found Congress' approval at 12 percent

[sofa king]

40. I noticed today that Fox News has declared war...

...on the war against poverty.

This is what I meant when I laughed at all our sock-puppets last week and told them they wouldn't have time to waste here anymore. Because the Republicans haven't created a single new job in ten years, and now all anyone wants to talk about is job creation. A sticky situation for them.

This weekend they seem to have become acutely aware of that fact, which is potent enough to destroy them in the next election by itself. So they're trying to do what they always do, which is to go on the attack to try to avoid discussion of the central, damning truth.

But with fifty million American voters watching their convulsions in disgust, it's only going to work against them.

And for those of you who love your irony spread thick, consider that if the Murdoch investigations spread further in the United States, most or all of those talking heads on Fox today may find themselves unemployed and radioactive to other media outlets this time next year.

[eringer]

44. In this Economy (which is not of his doing) and this Congress, 43 percent is damned amazing

With the Republicans offering to give you a minimum wage job (if there still is a minimum wage) if you give up your right to Social Security and Medicare, Obama only needs to portray himself as a defender of these programs. He has proved his prowess in foreign affairs by getting bin Laden. Rush and Sean know this and are actually looking forward to Obama's reelection -- four more years of getting rich hawking painless dentistry, virtual MRIs and get out of debt free cards.

[DreamSmoker]

50. The Party of NO and Obstruction

With the GOP bitching again..
Think about it..
Obama has had absolutely no help from the GOP Repukes....
Every single issue every single time these Dickheads have offered nothing to fix anything..
Its all about shit on Obama and hope it sticks 100% of the time while America crumbles to the ground..
These folks have no clue what truth and accountability is...
They all should go to Prison for Treason...
But they won't..

[unionworks]

56. So this means

...we should all give up and become republicans? :sarcasm: I called my Senator and Reps and told them to support the job bill. Hope you all do the same.

[Dragonfli]

97. I was raised and worked 35 years as blue collar, why would I support free trade since it screws me?

Free trade is the death of jobs HERE, it will create jobs alright, it always has, overseas jobs.

[mfcorey1]

58. This crap is everywhere. nt

[SoapBox]

73. Ditto...the Limp and Spineless Media just keeps repeating this over and over...

Part of my conspiracy theory.

It seems biased and unfair.

[underpants]

63. Which means, of course, that they will flip and support the Republicans

:sarcasm:

The main point of the way the media acts like this is a zero sum game is to diminish interest in voting - a prime Republican directive.

[gtar100]

69. So the public split on the jobs plan...

My bets are that the working half who also happen to not like having a black man in office would rather see the unemployed and under-employed stay that way so they can win an election. The screw-everyone-else-I-got-mine crowd will never care.

Why would someone be against investing in people to get them back to work? Sure the jobs plan has something for everyone to hate about it but it also appeases the critics who think we can't afford it.

Personally, I think the mere fact that it's got Obama's name behind that is the reason for the overwhelming majority of those who are against it as well as disapproving of him. I haven't heard them use sound reasoning or argumentation to say why they're against it. All I'm hearing from the Repugs is about the insecurity of the 'job creators'. What bullshit.

[Turbineguy]

71. I think the idea is

that if we let the repubs take over they'll stop destroying the country.

[SoapBox]

72. ...Figures Lie and Liars Figure.

I am ALWAYS suspicious of polling.

When we don't know exactly who, what, when, where, etc...

I've became even more suspicious of polls, after there were some during 2010...A poll found that the public didn't like Obama or something but when I dug, and dug, and dug, looking at the poll details, found that they were 99% white and that the sampling pool was not too big...most certainly, NOT representative of the U.S.

SO...I don't trust them. AND, what the hell about the likes of all the GOPBagger Crazies and Haters? The Boner?

...makes me nutty.

[ooglymoogly]

74. Kr nt

[yurbud]

75. any breakdown on why people are divided on it?

my guess would be because the proposal itself is divided between conservative snake oil and things that would actually help (but I still support it for the glass half full).

[totodeinhere]

88. Yes, probably some people oppose it who are liberals who don't like the tax cuts

and other provisions, while many conservatives oppose it because they oppose everything Obama regardless of it's merits.

[yurbud]

96. if Joe Lieberman were a democratic president, cons would call him a socialist even though

he would kiss their asses 100% of the time.

[chill_wind]

77. Big Picture: Poll Averages for over-all job approval haven't really moved.

The Jobs Bill, despite plenty of polling internals with varying degrees of favorable/unfavorables, depending on which poll, hasn't seemed to change the over-all number appreciably- up or down.

He's been at 42-43 % overall for weeks in the averages. Gallup over-all job approval has him down to 39% again- nudging the TPM number down a little. The other day Gallup was up a few points again and was offered up as a topic by some as something significant, so I don't know what the newest interpretation would be.


TPM Poll Averages

Barack Obama Job Approval
41.7%Approve 54.1% Disapprove

http://polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/contests/us-approval-obama

[on point]

84. The predicted result of Obama's muddled meaningless center right position.

By blurring the distinction between parties, he has given the prized independents nothing to differentiate from the repukes and to the democratic base he has proven to be too far right for them to like. Result is lukewarm result for somebody who is continuing to lead the country in the wrong conservative direction (80+ percent of the country these days) and is not the alternative he promised to be. No one is happy with the choices before them which is pandering moderate right and dangerously loony right, when what the country needs is a return to the DEMOCRATIC LIBERAL principles which puts people over the powerful and is working towards the long term betterment of everyone.

It's like playing a dead key on a piano, there just isn't a note to hit there. No response. Until and unless Obama gets that clue, the country is going to be holding their enthusiasm for someone else, because they hate having to hold their nose for Obama. Only when he starts hitting the notes where the country actually is, like support for single payer, will he be able to strike a chord.

[lib2DaBone]

86. Hate to say it.. but if Obama insists on running.. it will be a bloodbath in 2012....

Just like the mid=terms and the recent election in New York... the low information voters will "rebel" and go waaay to the right. (further than we are now)

We Will then get 8 MORE YEARS of Republican rule with the Koch Bros pulling the strings.

This country will not survive 8 more years of Koch Bros/TeabBag rule.

[Lorien]

92. We won't survive four more years of Obama offering the GOP all the want before

they even ask for it, either. He needs a primary challenger.

[Dragonfli]

98. I refuse to choose between two Republicans, I am hoping for a Democrat to enter the race /nt

[ProfessionalLeftist]

94. "Not surprisingly, the down economy has had a clear impact on Mr. Obama's approval rating."

Funny they don't mention that Republicans have done all they can to see that the economy stays in the shitter because this is the outcome they're after. And the media of course is glad to play along.

[orpupilofnature57]

102. since 1/20/09 his approval rating has been in jeopardy the weight of Neo-racism..

Corporate Pigs who were and are opposed to any social programs ,and him in general.