This is just a residual effect of him drifting to the background in the political dialog.
I think this is also, in part, a product of the GOP candidates sliming each other during the past few months. It causes voters to take a second look at Obama and perhaps decide... “They’re all bad (on the GOP side)... I’ll stay with the devil I know.”
And THAT is the difference between Old America and New America. Old America looked at Big Government as an obstacle to success and prosperity. New America looks to government largesse as that which nourishes it.