March 17, 2009
The Incredibly Shrinking Mandate
Inasmuch as people have a tendency to express approval or disapproval for subjective reasons and the popularity of policies isn't necessarily reliable evidence of their necessity, watching approval polls is a bit like watching traffic patterns in reaction to a fog. That said, perhaps these results will begin to move us past the silly declaration that Americans want the full dose of Obama's medicine good and hard:
According to the table of daily results, President Obama began his term with a strongly approve/disapprove differential hovering around thirty points; it's now four. His "total approve" has slipped from 65% to 56%, while his "total disapprove" has surged from 30% to 43%.
Watch for the emphasis to change from Americans' specific desire for a particular political platform to their general disgruntlement.
On ABC's "This Week" Sunday George Will showed a graph highlighting that George Jefferson will print more money in his single term than has been printed since 1789.
We will see calamitious inflation, worse than under Carter, by the end of 2010. It is inevitable. By 2012 Joe Trillo could beat this cluless clown.
Of course, if you wanted a more complete picture of public opinion, you would reference a poll of polls site, like this one (pollster.com), which shows an Obama favorability rating of 65-28. Really Justin, in this day of great polling sites, who relies on individual polls anymore? Oh yeah, people who are searching for an individual poll to make a specific point. Sorta like the way your friend Pat might use a poll.
Posted by: Pragmatist at March 17, 2009 11:16 AMThere's also this one
RealClearPolitics.com
The change isn't as dramatic as Rasmussen, but the lines are moving closer to each other.
Posted by: Patrick at March 17, 2009 2:23 PMHow pragmatic, Pragmatist, that you skip right past the chart that would clearly correspond to the topic of this post (approval) in order to focus in on a different, albeit related, topic (favorability). I note, with a chuckle, that the research of that famously non-partisan organization, DailyKos, is included in the latter.
Posted by: Justin Katz at March 17, 2009 7:30 PMCan someone please explain the reference to "George Jefferson"?
Posted by: Thomas Schmeling at March 17, 2009 10:08 PMYour first sentence is an understatement. These are meaningless snapshots and are no evidence of anything other than possibly what is going in the life of the person polled. No reasonable somewhat-politically informed person thought that Obama would unite all Americans and end divisiveness. No mortal could do that in our culture. That said, using this poll to indicate that people are disgruntled with Obama’s policies is partisan rhetoric /wishful thinking. Things could occur tomorrow which Obama’s or any political policies have no control over yet significantly affect approval ratings. I’m not a fan of this administration’s policies but political approval ratings are as indicative of performance as money earned is indicative of movie quality. Both are just about entertainment.
Geroge Jefferson - referring to the late 1970's TV show The Jefferson's about an African-American family living in a high-rise apartment.
Posted by: msteven at March 17, 2009 10:19 PMI think this guy is starting to piss on his shoes,first sucking up to Hamas;secondly targeting disabled veterans;third going after gun owners via the sleazebag Eric Holder and lastly by continuing to appoint extreme leftists like Van Jones and David Ogden to high government positions.
The veneer is peeling off fast.
I think Mr.Schmeling knows very well what the reference to George Jefferson means.
It's a free country(for now at least)Mike can express himself as he sees fit.I have heard much more vicious crap from leftists on this and other blogs.
If anyone remembers, Jefferson was a Jackie Gleason type character-a blowhard-and was definitely not an Amos'n Andy racial stereotype.In view of the fact that Obama seems to be a bullsh*it artist who speaks out of both sides of his mouth as convenience dictates,maybe the comparison isn't that offensive.
His incompetence is only waiting for the international arena to take center stage.
I cannot see how Obama justifies saving $640 million on the backs of disabled vets and then give $900 million to Hamas.
"It's a free country(for now at least)Mike can express himself as he sees fit.I have heard much more vicious crap from leftists on this and other blogs."
Boy, that's the truth. There's a poster there named Tom Graves, formerly "WOW", who has called for the burning alive of "Catlicks" to no complaints from any of the commies there. He also said he wanted to see Joe Bernstein's name on a tombstone to no complaints on that filthy blog.
Graves is (big surprise) a retired Woonsocket teacher and member of the communist, atheist, pedophile-infested AFT.
In fairness to Tom Graves he invited me to meet him and he turned out to be an okay guy to speak with.We had some common ground with regard to our Vietnam service and that made it different from trying to debate with someone who has spent a whole life in academia and doesn't have clue one about the real world.
The AFT or the NEA are unions that teachers have to belong to in order to work in public schools-a lot of teachers don't agree with their political positions.AFT is by far less radical than NEA.
As far as people wishing me dead,I could care less.I was more concerned with the people that actually tried making it a fact.I'm still here,waiting for cancer,diabetes,or CAD to take me out.