Compared with other recent presidents, President Obama's approval numbers are "overperforming," given the struggling economy and Americans' low levels of satisfaction with the direction of the country, says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll...
"Looking at history, particularly Clinton and Reagan, it is somewhat surprising that [Obama] has never yet fallen into the 30 percent range in our approval rating," Newport said. "And yet both Reagan and Clinton, in their first terms when the economy was perceived as bad ... both fell into the 30s."
Newport noted, "Satisfaction with the way things are going is ... correlated with economic perceptions fairly strongly." At the same time, Obama "is overperforming. Based on where every president has been, his approval rating now is higher than we would predict it to be based on" how satisfied American adults say they are...
Gallup, he added, will be conducting research to get a more definitive answer to the question.
Perhaps some of us in the pragmatic progressive blogosphere could help you with that Frank. Could it be that a lot of people recognize that we have an over-performing President and an under-performing Congress? Could it be that some folks see who is "the only adult in the room?" Could it be because the opposition party that finally gained control of the House hasn't passed one jobs bill since getting elected - while the President goes all over the country doing everything he can alone on that front? Could it be that the "party of no" strategy combined with a willingness to take the entire global economy hostage in order to protect tax cuts for the wealthy does not fare very well up against a President who is willing to compromise with a balanced approach? Could it be that Americans are aware that this President walked into the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression and has worked tirelessly to do everything he can to reverse that - while the opposition has only one goal: make him a one-termer.
In other words, could it be that the American public still has an ounce of sense left?
Not to mention that this President has been kicking butt in terms of communicating with the public over these debt ceiling negotiations. Take a look...he's had 5 press conferences/speeches in the last 2 weeks to explain things to the American public. Tell me when another President did that.
Do your polling Frank. Some of us already know what the results will be.
Posted By: Marta Fernandez
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 5:45PM
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