Free Republic

Monday, November 02, 2009 The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends). Following release of the House health care plan by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 42% of voters now support the Congressional effort while 54% are opposed. In October, 37.8% of American adults considered themselves to be Democrats while 31.9% are Republicans. The number of Democrats has been inching up steadily since July....

Richard Cohen is disappointed. Obama isn’t making use of his “teachable” moments. What—the grand teacher, the magnificent orator, isn’t imparting wisdom to us or convincing us on racial-profiling or health care or much of anything else? Not really. Cohen doesn’t say a lot about the content of Obama’s messages, but he sure has plenty to say about Obama himself—such as “his distinct coolness [and] an above-the-fray mien that does not communicate empathy.” I think he means Obama is a snob. Cohen can’t quite bring himself to put it in those terms, but he does concede that “the country needs health-care...

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Falling Marks Today's Rasmussen reports presidential tracking poll shows that 31 percent of voters surveyed strongly approve of the job president Obama is doing. But 33 percent strongly disapprove. That means the president's approval index rating has fallen below zero for the third time in 10 days. The approval index is calculated by subtracting the number of people who strongly disapprove — from the number who strongly approve. It currently stands at negative two. That matches President Obama's lowest rating since taking office, which was recorded on June 21. Before that, the...