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Obama's dropping poll numbers create whiff of failure!
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Falling faster!
Obama's dropping poll numbers create whiff of failure
By: Julie Mason
Examiner White House Correspondent
August 7, 2009
At the 200-day mark, President Barack Obama's public support is at its lowest ebb yet -- brought down hard by concern over jobs and health care, according to new polling.
Behind the numbers is a worrisome trend for Obama in the eroding faith of many people who strongly backed him for president. After campaigning on hope and the promise of change, Obama has struggled with a bad economy, the partisan realities of Washington and his own political limitations.
"What is bothering people is that it sounded like he had good ideas, but he can't get them implemented," said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida. "He has too many distractions and not enough focus on basic human needs -- like putting people back to work."
Just 50 percent of registered voters in a Quinnipiac University poll said they approved of the job Obama was doing, while 42 percent said they disapproved. It's his lowest number yet and a drop of seven percentage points from a month ago.
"The president is right on the magic 50 percent threshold in public approval because of bad grades on the economy and even worse grades on health care," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.
The poll found 49 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy to 45 percent who approved. On health care, 52 percent disapprove of his direction, while 39 percent approve.
A new CNN/Opinion Research poll found 51 percent believed Obama's first six months in office have been successful, while 37 percent called him a failure. By comparison, 56 percent in 2001 said they believed former President George W. Bush's first six months were a success.
Sixty-five percent told CNN they believed Obama took on more issues than he should have, compared with 30 percent who said they believed he did not. From a public approval rating high mark of 76 percent after his inauguration, CNN found Obama at 56 percent now.
Democratic strategist Keir Murray said Obama came into office amid artificially high approval numbers and intense public expectations -- as the first black president, a change agent and the political antidote to Bush.
"Some of the bloom is off the rose of his administration, which happens to all of them," Murray said "I think the historic nature of his presidency probably added to the normal honeymoon."
Still, the polls underscore a sharper reality for Obama and his supporters. The eventful first half-year of his administration has recast Obama in terms of his struggles and challenges -- and not by his successes.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger recalled the atmospherics of January, when Obama seemed vibrant and unstoppable.
"Back then, few would have argued persuasively that at the August recess the Obama plan to redraw the American health-care landscape could be at risk of failure, with Democratic members of Congress going home to halls full of raving constituents," Henninger wrote.
[email protected]
[link to www.washingtonexaminer.com]
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