Posted on 07/09/2009 8:25:48 AM PDT by ScottinVA
In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.
Obama’s job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama’s expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.
But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.
“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.
“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.
The White House denies there’s been any real shift.
“The independent numbers I have seen, public and private, have been relatively steady,” Obama’s senior political adviser, David Axelrod, said in an e-mail.
Another political adviser dismissed small state polls as statistically questionable and pointed out that Obama’s own numbers remain strong, by historical standards — with an average 59 percent approval rating among independents in June, according to Gallup.
Pollsters from both parties debate the numbers’ meaning, but averages of public polls have shown a gentle downward trend.
Obama retains extremely strong support from Democrats, and earlier this year lost much of the Republican support that followed a giddy Inauguration. It is the independents who appear to be currently on the move: Obama dropped 6 percentage points last week from the week before in Gallup’s tracking poll...
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
This administration is a FAILURE.
“This administration is a FAILURE.”
EPIC fail!
The problem with his numbers dropping like they are, a cornered animal is the most dangerous. If this translates into plummeting numbers for Dems in Congress, we will see them go full tilt bozo in the coming months to force through every DESTROY AMERICA bill they can before the Mid-term elections.
Bodes well for 2010. :)
” Obama’s job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent “
I bet that when GW’s numbers fell to 56,
Brian Williams and the rest of the gerbils described him as cratering.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html
Congress’s approval numbers are sinking as well.
Watch the wrap on the link.
If you stand for NOTHING you will Fall for anything - Jerry Falwell.
“It may be failing but it seems to be succeeding in saddling the country with a load that will on our backs forever.”
I don’t know about that; it appears people are waking up in time. There’s a whole lot of worry about what the 0bamacons are doing now. The congressional dems are overreaching, just as predicted, and they’re going to pay heavily in 2010. A strong conservative Congress will put the brakes to much of this cr#p.
Democrats in congress are interested in only one thing - getting re-elected. For the first few months they all jumped on his coat tail. However, as Obama’s numbers fall so will their rabid support of his socialist agenda.
“Numbers still a bit high, but much trending lower. Good news for the sane of America”
We need a scandal or a terrorist attack to kick the stool from under ObaMugabe.
I was hoping the firing of the AmeriCorp IG would have blossomed.
Gallop lies.
One can only stand beside a stinking pile of Obama for so long.
it’s hysterical....claiming a “56% JA rating is healthy” when it’s down 15 points from just months ago (and the prospects are it will head even lower) is akin to saying “I make a healthy $400 a week” when you were making $1200 a week just three months ago...
btw- if the independents are edging away from zero how long before they jump off the edge???
People realize that they had JOBS under Bush. Things have really gone in the crapper since the Kenyan took over. He would be toast if the media stopped fellating his every move.
that’s the problem with today’s GOP- they don’t fight the durty fight....we are still hearing from the rat about the justices GWB fired, why is the GOP not carrying the flag for the IG???
The more people turn on the usurper, the more likely a “fabricated” national emergency will occur, to “pull the people together”. Just watch.
Good point, especially all the ones who ran as "conservative" Dems during 2006
Finally, the GOP is starting to criticize the Fascist Party.
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