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Why So Many People Still Regard Obama Positively
American Thinker ^ | 07/17/2015 | Richard Winchester

Posted on 07/18/2015 6:20:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

After studying public opinion for many years, I think I have fairly good understanding of what shapes the typical American’s political views.  There is, however, one topic that has me flummoxed:  why so many Americans still hold rosy opinions about Barack Obama as the president and as a person.

Pollingreport.com posted the latest polls by about a dozen organizations plumbing Americans’ recent opinions about Obama’s job performance.  Most major poll results showed approval of his job performance averaged 45-46%.  Disapproval averaged two or three percentage points higher.  A CNN/ORC poll conducted June 26-28, however, showed his job approval at 50% while 47% disapproved.  The Gallup poll’s daily tracking report for July 14, 2015 showed Obama’s job performance rating at 46% approval vs. 49% disapproval.   (Approval of Obama’s job performance will probably increase following the deal with Iran.) 

The same organizations’ recent polls showed positive perceptions of Obama as a person frequently exceed 50%.  (His reputation for honesty dipped when it was revealed that he lied to sell Obamacare, but has since recovered.)

What’s difficult to understand about this is that when the same organizations plumb opinions about topics -- such as the country’s direction, perceptions of economic conditions, views of U.S. influence abroad, etc. -- that correlate robustly with presidential job approval, the results are usually abysmal, and ought negatively to affect dispositions about Obama.  (When George W. Bush was president, for example, abysmal opinions on these issues drove his job approval ratings )

This essay attempts to comprehend why, despite his policy failures at home and abroad, scandals, and lies, many Americans continue to approve of Obama’s job performance and regard him favorably as a person.  At least five major factors seem to play a part: 


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: favorability; obama
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1 posted on 07/18/2015 6:20:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

At least five major factors seem to play a part:

(1) Americans’ views of the presidency;

(2) Obama’s racial make-up;

(3) his party affiliation;

(4) the mainstream media’s (MSM’s) bias on his behalf; and

(5) Americans’ tendency to accord very low priority to politics.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/07/why_so_many_people_regard_obama_positively.html#ixzz3gFVJj01T


2 posted on 07/18/2015 6:21:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Why So Many People Still Regard Obama Positively

1. Stupidity

2. Bribes


3 posted on 07/18/2015 6:23:17 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
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To: SeekAndFind

Stupidity?


4 posted on 07/18/2015 6:23:19 AM PDT by Paulie (America without Christianity is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why he even has an approval rating is beyond my comprehension.


5 posted on 07/18/2015 6:24:20 AM PDT by oldtech
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To: SeekAndFind
Ignorance and philosophical loyalty. Liberals are fanatically loyal to the "party" line. Whatever is in vogue among those whom liberals esteem (Al Gore, Miley Cyrus, BRUCE Jenner, whomever) is considered gospel by liberals. The moon could crack and be falling from the sky but if hollyweird says its a good thing, liberals believe it.

Second is ignorance. They're incapable of original thought and don't educate themselves concerning the burning issues of the day. And the younger the liberal, the less likely they're even able to read, thus further hindering educating themselves.

Why is O'dummy still popular among these people? For the same reason hundreds of people followed Jim Jones to South America, viz. Such inferior humans are desperate to belong to a cult. In this case, the cult of liberalism. They've been brainwashed.

6 posted on 07/18/2015 6:27:53 AM PDT by LouAvul (Venal and evil people are destroying the world you live in.)
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To: SeekAndFind

There are times when I think winning the Cold War was the worst thing that could have happened to us. Why? Because it made us too secure/comfortable and we dropped our guard on a number of fronts (not just in terms of national security). This paved the way for someone like Obama to get elected.

In the old days, Obama would not even have been able to get a security clearance.


7 posted on 07/18/2015 6:27:56 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: SeekAndFind

Many people hold to their preconceptions ever though reality is in front of them. Reality is too “serious” and upsetting to them. Back to the Cardasians...


8 posted on 07/18/2015 6:27:56 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Those that give a positive approval rating are afraid of being labeled a racist if they don’t.


9 posted on 07/18/2015 6:28:17 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( "Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: rbg81

More to the point: winning the Cold War enabled a new level of stupid in this country, which we embraced wholeheartedly.


10 posted on 07/18/2015 6:29:08 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: SeekAndFind
The "ends justify the means" is a core leftist value. Cheatin and lyin is really "sticking to the man".
That is why it is so important to create a culture of victimization. If you can make people feel like victims you can make them do anything including sending their fellow citizens off to gulags or concentration camps.
11 posted on 07/18/2015 6:29:58 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen (Beat your plowshares into swords. Let the weak say I am strong)
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To: SkyDancer

RE: Those that give a positive approval rating are afraid of being labeled a racist if they don’t.

Aren’t polls supposed to be anonymous?


12 posted on 07/18/2015 6:30:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

1. Low information types.

2. Blacks approval no matter what.

3. Die hard lefties approval no matter what.

I personally know all three types. Take a homosexual, obama is pro homo. China could be nuking Hawaii right now due to some stupid foreign policy SNAFU of obama’s, and the homo opinion would still be positive.

And the low info types would be too busy texting to notice reports of Hawaii’s nuking. If they did notice they’d probably confuse it with some gardening documentary on how to grow mushrooms.


13 posted on 07/18/2015 6:33:43 AM PDT by redfreedom (All it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing - that's how the left took over.)
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To: rbg81

What makes you think we won the cold war? Their Goal was destruction of America from inside....


14 posted on 07/18/2015 6:33:56 AM PDT by Mechanicos (Nothing's so small it can't be blown out of proportion.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Polls that don’t present openly the demographics used are just phoney numbers without any basis?


15 posted on 07/18/2015 6:33:57 AM PDT by Bobby_Taxpayer
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To: SeekAndFind
Because they're sheeple.
16 posted on 07/18/2015 6:34:00 AM PDT by oldbrowser (The kangaroos have taken over the supreme court.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Because they don’t want to be called “racists.”


17 posted on 07/18/2015 6:40:25 AM PDT by txrefugee
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To: SeekAndFind

As part of the same poll, ask them three questions about American history. My feeling is that most wouldn’t be able to answer one.


18 posted on 07/18/2015 6:42:53 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: SeekAndFind

What makes me weep is that although everyone in the country knows what is going on with this guy, no one will stand up to him and even the Joint Chief’s of Staff are knuckling under when they know better.

To compound it all, when this guy retires from office he will only be 56 and he will spend the rest of his life flying around the world on our tab working with hostile nations to finish the job of dismantling our freedom. Even then, no one will stand up and bring him to justice. We will see treason play out before our eyes and our nation will accept it along with the consequences.

What a shame.


19 posted on 07/18/2015 6:43:23 AM PDT by Baynative (Liberty lost is a high price to pay for the experiment of socialism.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Because they are extremely gullible.


20 posted on 07/18/2015 6:43:30 AM PDT by Thom Pain (If you like your country you can keep it. Period. REPEAL 17 !!)
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