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Eric Black Ink

Obama approval rating slips

By Eric Black | 03/16/09

Be sure to take this with plenty of salt, but a new Pew Research Center survey shows Pres. Obama's approval rating down from 64 in February to 59 now. A fuller discussion from the esteemed Any Kohut of Pew is here. Kohut's top analysis point is that moderates liked it better when they thought Obama was listening to moderate Dems, but now they think he is listening to the liberals.

I can't help one snarky thought. A week or two ago, when the Dow was continuing to fall, many Republican commentators (I have Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity specifically in mind, but it was a widespread talking point before this week, even as Obama's approval ratings were sky high. Obama said day-to-day Dow movement was no more reliable an indicator than tracking polls during a campaign. Now the market (as of this writing) is in the middle of its fifth-straight up day, and Obama's approval rating, at least in this poll by the reputable Pew, is down. I wonder how many Republican commentators will say: disregard the drop in Obama's approval, the Dow is telling us that the country has confidence in him.

In the poll, the approval of Republican congressional leaders fell a bit more than Obama's did, from 34 percent in Feb. to 28% now.

 

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Comments (4)

Submitted by Thomas Swift on March 16, 2009 - 1:06pm.

I don't think that anyone believed that Obama's approval rating would last, Eric. In fact, I confidently predict that as more people that are not connected to a Democrat special interest start realizing that the trillions of dollars he's borrowed from the Chinese are having no effect on their daily lives, his popularity will will head into the same tank he's put the economy.

But what I do find startling is the conclusion of the poll that Obama's *dissapproval* rating has shot up a full 9% to 26%. Wow.

It is more likely that investors are signaling their hope that as condemnation of his ill considered economic recovery plan widens (he's got the Commies worried about the health of our capitalist economy now, for cryin' out loud!), Obama might start to reign in Pelosi & Co.

Submitted by Ed Stych on March 16, 2009 - 1:26pm.

And the poll numbers might be worse than you hope for, Eric:

http://tinyurl.com/5tnd2b

I'm surprised by your "snarky thought," because you should be the first one to know that's how politics works. I wonder when Obama and his team will change course and suddenly decide that a better stock market is a bellwether that investors like Obama's plan.

Submitted by Jim Mogen on March 16, 2009 - 5:15pm.

I agree with Mr. Swift that it should be no surprise that the poll numbers did not stay at the unsustainable heights that Pres. Obama came into office. There are too many tough challenges to keep everybody happy.

However, the real message is that the Republicans and conservatives (apparently, many conservatives are unwilling to call themselves Republicans) have had mild success in their negative campaigning. While they offer no alternative, they attack every option, and are happy with their approvals tanking worse than Pres. Obama's.

Submitted by Margo Mead on March 22, 2009 - 11:09am.

I had a hard time reading your commentary because the second paragraph contains both an incomplete sentence and an unfinished parenthetical remark. Both of these are in the 2nd sentence of that paragraph. I don't know what the Republican commentators were saying a week or two ago. Perhaps you need a proofreader or an editor to go over your posts before you post them.