Last night, I wondered if the president’s approval numbers enjoyed a slight uptick in recent weeks (while his disapproval is on the decline) because his unpopular health care overhaul is no longer on the front page.
And today I learned that Tom Jensen at the Democratic Party-affiliated Public Policy polling, whose latest poll reflect that trend, seems to share my views:
Obama’s numbers saw a significant downward trend during the health care debate and with that issue in the rear view mirror he seems to be regaining at least a little bit of his support across party lines. It’s not that voters have changed their minds on the bill- the 49/43 spread against it now is nearly identical to the 49/45 spread against it right before the vote was taken. But it no longer seems to be near the top of voters’ minds when evaluating Obama and his numbers do finally seem to be seeing some improvement as a result.
I think the president’s been helped by a media which do not devote as much attention to his Administration’s stumbles and scandals as they would if he were a Republican. The media hyped federal blunders in the aftermath of Katrina while downplaying those after the oil spill. They have all put ignored ties between tie between these Administration and BP, not investigating the exemption the Administration granted this Obama campaign contributor to the extent they would if a Republican Administration had reacted similarly to a campaign contributor.
Nor are we likely to see much investigation of the huge pay increases Labor Secretary Hilda Solis gave to her staffers when they moved from Capitol Hill to the Labor Department.
Without the relentless negative coverage the media would give to a Republican executive similarly situated, the American people move to their default reaction toward the president: they generally approve of his policies because they want him to succeed.
So, expect the president’s approval to hover around 50% for a while unless he introduces another unpopular initiative. Or if the nascent recovery fades as some economists (and bloggers) warn.
The other thing is the media have been relentlessly upbeat about the economy to a degree that is certainly not supported by the actual performance of the economy. 9.9% unemployment under Bush would have inspired calls for impeachment, but under Obama, it’s cause for celebration. The braindead segment of the population who only hears snippets of media happy talk between celebrity talk and reality TV shows hears the cheery spin and thinks everything is better now.
Greece has everyone nervous. As it should. Obamacare will do to us what Socialism did to Greece.
I’m sure someone will laud the succes of socialism in some country somewhere… any minute now…
Oh, let me guess, Livewire. “You hate socialism, huh? Well, I guess you hate the police and fire departments*, too. Huh?”
Throw in a crack about Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin and that’s pretty much the depth of leftist “intellectual argument.”
* Local agencies, operated by local communities, not by a distant federal bureaucracy. i.e. Not socialism.
Is there anyone here who doesn’t know someone either out of work or about to be out of work? This economy is truly horrible but the people are being lulled into believing that this is typical. Keep the drumbeat up to REPEAL Obamacare and work to get the Conservatives into power in November. RINOs will not do. Bush was one of those. It was RINOs who got us the Liberal Progressives. The Liberal Progressives are a total disaster at everything. The only choice we have left is the Conservatives and simple ideas: cut taxes, cut spending, cut government, repeal Obamacare. That will be a good start.