Posted on 05/15/2012 11:12:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The New York Times believes the most interesting data coming out of the latest CBS News/New York Times poll is that the vast majority of Americans think President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage last week was a cynical ploy to gain a political advantage. That’s the lede in their story about the poll. Considering that the mainstream media — including the Times — gave the statement laudatory coverage, it is surprising to learn that 67 percent of Americans think he did it “mostly for political reasons” rather than believing his story about him evolving and doing what was right. But there’s far worse news for the president in this survey than just the fact that after a few years in office two thirds of the electorate see through him like a sheet glass window. The really bad news is that his core election strategy of seeking to portray the Republicans and Mitt Romney as the enemies of women is not only failing to give him an advantage; it’s backfiring.
The poll shows Romney winning a head-to-head match up with the president by a margin of 46-43 percent. That is interesting, as it’s the first time since early January that Romney is beating Obama in this poll. But of even greater significance is that Romney leads the president among women by 46-44 percent. Only a month ago, Obama had a 49-43 percent edge among women. That this result would come after a month in which the Democrats have pounded Romney and the GOP and sought to portray them as waging a Republican war on women is astonishing. The war theme is apparently not convincing wavering females that a President Romney would harm them. Indeed, it may be having the opposite effect as — just as is the case with the gay marriage issue — many women seem to understand that the war tactic is a dishonest attempt to divert their attention from the more pressing issues relating to the economy.
Like last week’s Gallup poll, the CBS/Times survey also shows that the gay marriage decision is likely to cost the president some support. More voters say they are less likely to vote for the president as a result of his statement than those who say they are more likely to back him by a 22 to 14 percent margin.
Not all the results in the CBS/Times poll were unfavorable to the president. His job approval figure of 50 percent was the highest in two years other than the month Osama bin Laden was killed. And there is more optimism about the economy, with 36 percent saying they think it is getting better, a number that is also the highest in two years.
And yet despite the sense that the economy is not as bad as it has been, Obama is still losing to Romney and even losing among women, a group that has skewed heavily to the Democrats in the past two decades. What can account for this declining gender gap after a period when the president and his campaign have sought to emphasize the difference between the two parties on what they think are women’s issues?
The answer isn’t all that complicated. Though some liberals may be convinced there is a GOP war on women, most aren’t buying it any more than they believe the president’s flip-flop on gays was a principled stand. Whatever their positions on social issues, most women seem to believe that the economy and the well-being of their families is their primary concern and on that score, Obama has lost their confidence. And it’s not clear that it can be won back by ginning up fake controversies that are transparent attempts to demonize Obama’s opponents.
Even more to the point, after three and a half years in office, President Obama may have just worn out his welcome with many voters. Having made it to the White House as part of symbolic election in which all Americans could take pride in righting some great historic wrongs, there is no such rationale for his re-election. Tactics that seem to be merely a way to trick the voters into thinking ill of the GOP are falling flat. The poll may be a wake up call to the Democrats to drop their phony war on women and start concentrating on the bread and butter issue of the economy, which 62 percent of those surveyed say is the most important in the election (the second most is the federal deficit at only 11 percent) where Romney seems to have a strong advantage.
Shhhhh. Let’s keep this a secret.
And yet despite the sense that the economy is not as bad as it has been...
How does 64% of the public not believing the economy is getting better equal a "sense that the economy is not as bad as it has been"? I just read on another thread about a quarter million people will run out of unemployment this weekend. I bet they don't think the economy is getting better.
He totally messed up becoming a ghey icon. The black community is really freakin’ out about this, acting disgusted. All I can say is yesssssss! Buh wah ha ha ha ha ha!
A British alternative spelling of lead or an error?
Yes, they might give him 93% support instead of their knee-jerk 95%.
Old people who can't learn 'new tricks' - and folks too stupid to use computers still get their news from NBC, CBS and the local paper... The rest of the population is hearing both sides. That hurts democrats with women and the young.
lede
Origin
Word Origin & History
lede
c.1965, alternative spelling of lead in the newspaper journalism sense (see lead (v.)), used to distinguish this sense from other possible meanings of the word, perhaps especially the molten lead used in typesetting machines.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Thanks for the definition. That’s interesting but “lead” would not have been confused with the molten metal as used in the sense the writer used it, so “lede,” although correct, needn’t have been used.
I’d like to think that it will be women who have a mighty hand in flushing this turd in Nov.
“I’d like to think that it will be women who have a mighty hand in flushing this turd in Nov.”
They’re taking it on the chin just as others are; their dollars are de-valued, their fathers, husbands & sons are struglling, and they have nothing to be optimistic about with this token in office.
Told this to a friend yesterday that it won't matter,
they still will vote for him. It won't matter one bit
anything Barry does. He came out gay and not ONE word
from his lovely wife. n/s
Obama supporting queer marriage isn’t surprising to anyone.
Many of us viewed him as a closet homosexual anyway.
The amazing thing is that Hoyer, Pelosi, and Reid all came to this very same long evolving position the same day Obama did.
It appears that there is nothing Obama can do that these 3 stooges will not back him up on.
They have absolutely no principles or integrity of their own.
Obama must go is America is to survive, but to get rid of Obama and leave people like this in office is a waste of time.This triumpherate of suck butts and their Messiah are killing America
It’s really ridiculous for dems to think they can drive women into a frenzy with all this talk about contraception.
They are the ones who reduce women to body parts.
Meanwhile, women everywhere are trying to keep gas in their tank just like everyone else.
After we pay for the gas, we head to the grocery store.
Then we head home to spend time with our men and our kids.
We actually kinda like the men in our lives...it’s really strange how dems think women should always be at “war” with men.
If the man in your life was a Democrat, you probably would be.
Would it be a war?
If he were a democrat I can’t imagine him putting up a decent fight.
I imagine him sighing...muttering under his breath maybe...but most of the democrat men I know are afraid of women.
I want to see this poll’s “internals”.
If he’s losing single/divorced women, he’s totally lost.
That’s the left’s major demographic, and the reason their policies are centered around making as many “single moms” and divorced women as possible.
They want us all to be “Julia”
and they want our kids to be “Zachary”
But that isn’t exactly what we want for ourselves.
And lying on his back with all his limbs in the air, just where you need to vacuum, like our greyhound.
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