Recent polls all have one thing in common — they show the President and Democrats’ approval dropping like a rock. I wonder when liberals will realize the reason for the plummeting approval ratings is that they misread their mandate. The same happened with Bill Clinton, but he corrected course after Democrats suffered historic losses in 1994. Obama has plenty of time to move to the center before his next election, but congressional Democrats don’t have the same luxury. Here is a bit more on the subject from my piece at American Issues Project this week.
The latest Gallup poll shows presidential approval at 51 percent, with 41 percent disapproval. To understand just how much that number has changed since the President took office in January, consider that the numbers in the same poll for the January 21-23 period were 68-12 percent. A gap of 56 percent between approval and disapproval has shrunken to 10 percent.
Americans voted on an agenda of “hope ‘n change” (whatever that is), but I would argue many voted on the basis of personality and image. They chose the young, black fist-bumping rock star over the man often caricatured as a cranky, old white guy. The vote was about change from what was, rather than a vote in favor of any specific agenda. Since Obama provided few policy details during the campaign, he made quite a leap to interpret the election results as a mandate for the liberal agenda he has pursued as president, and now that is being reflected in opinion polls.
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According to the latest Rasmussen poll, “43% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.” Of even greater significance, independent voters now favor the GOP 45%-18%. The same poll now even shows women preferring the GOP over Democrats.
Another Rasmussen poll shows respondents for the first time in over two years trusting Republicans more on the issue of health care.There is a big difference between wanting American car companies to succeed and wanting the government firing their executives and guaranteeing their warranties, just as there is a big difference between wanting more affordable health care and wanting the government to completely redesign and oversee the system. The American people are telling the President and Democrats that through public opinion polls and protests. I wonder if they are listening yet.
