Free Republic

After a year of seeing President Obama’s approval ratings plummet, the president’s pollster is offering a strikingly candid and pessimistic New Year’s resolution. Reporters should go the next “year without reporting any public polling data,” Joel Benenson, president and CEO of Benenson Strategy Group, said. His comments were made to reporter Mike Allen, who published them in his daily “Politico Playbook” morning newsletter on Tuesday.

".. unskewed polls show Romney leading by 7.8 points.. good reason. Barack Obama is not winning any group he lost in 2008; not doing better with any group he won and not closing the gap with any group he lost. “…Barack Obama appears to need three cards for an inside straight to win reelection. He has the two end “cards”, his Media Cheerleaders ….and the power of incumbency at the other. Filling in the “cards” between them to gain a winning “hand” looks to be beyond Obama’s reach. Here are the “cards” he needs to fill in his inside straight....

Two new polls have caught Barack Obama and the Democrats in a crossfire. A USA Today/Gallup survey of both national voter sentiment and the views of registered voters in 12 states identified as “battlegrounds” paints a bleak picture for Obama. When asked the “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” question, made famous by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 campaign against Democrat Jimmy Carter, respondents in the important “swing states” told Gallup they were NOT better off by a wide 56/40 margin. The national response to this question was only slightly better for Obama as registered...

President Obama has an overall edge in the 12 decisive battleground states that is measurably greater than his advantage in national polling. The dynamic, which may reflect a combination of lower swing-state unemployment rates and demographic advantages for the president, is causing stirrings of unease among Republicans, even as they emphasize that it is important not to read too much into the state of the race right now. “Obama is concentrating his considerable early resources and messaging in the swing states, and it’s had an impact,” said Mark McKinnon, who served as a media adviser for President George W. Bush’s...

Last night, I noted how NBC News was swimming against historical trends in pushing a poll with a deeply partisan skew in its sample. The poll, produced in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal, had a D+11 sample, i.e. 46% of the sample identified as Democrat, 35% identified as Republican. In 2008, a very big year for Democrats, the electorate was D+7, 39% Democrat, 32% Republican. In fact, you have to go back nearly thirty years to find an election with such a partisan skew. This morning, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, NBC political director Chuck Todd admitted their poll had...

These are not good times for the Barack Obama. Everywhere he looks he is sagging and failing. More than this an oddity seems to be hanging over his head that can best be described as his 55% problem. The figure 55% is killing his career. This man must see the number 55% in his sleep. Polls that show him at 55% and sound good are actually sharp reminders of his falling fortunes not signs of growing popularity. Obama definitely has a 55% problem. Consider these 55% problems he has: Poll: 55% of Americans Say Obama One-Term President: A new ABC...

There's a lot of terrible news for President Obama in new polls by the Washington Post-ABC News and the Wall Street Journal-NBC News.  The number of Americans who say the country is on the wrong track has risen to its highest level since just before Obama took office -- into what one commentator calls the "incumbent death zone." His job approval rating is down.  The number of people who disapprove of his handling of the economy is rocketing upward.  And then there is this question, asked by the Post-ABC: Do you think Obama's economic program is making the economy better,...

Just 14% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, August 21. The latest finding shows little change from last week and a month ago, but is down 15 points from a year ago. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration. When President Obama assumed office in January 2009, optimism rose to 27% and climbed to the...

In the same week that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department was going to review the cases of 300,000 illegal aliens in deportation proceedings and allow “low priority” cases to stay in the country and receive work permits—a move House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith called a “back door amnesty”—President Barack Obama’s approval dropped to an all-time low of 44 percent among Hispanics, according to Gallup polling data released today. That is a drop of 41 points from the spring of 2009, when Obama’s approval among Hispanic Americans peaked at 85 percent (in the weeks that ended April...

So much for hope and change. With the economy growing worse and worse, the grand promises of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign have faded as the reality of malaise takes hold. Mr. Obama has vowed to spend $1 billion in advertising dollars to counteract the effect his policies have had on the nation. The GOP’s campaign chief met with The Washington Times on Friday to discuss why that’s not going to work. “I think this [election] is a referendum on Barack Obama,” said Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus. “The people in this country are going to ask themselves a...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove which gives Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17

Dan Calabrese notices a scolding tone coming from the Associated Press in reporting its latest polling. It headlines the report by noting that “a grouchy public [is] sticking with Obama,” having seen a 54% job approval rating in its survey — but some bad numbers on the issues. Does the AP report those falling levels of support as a consequence of Barack Obama doing a poor job? No, as emphases from Dan and myself show: The public grew slightly more dispirited on a range of matters over the past month, including war and the economy, continuing the slippage that has...

Here is video of Geraldo Rivera tonight talking with GOP former Rep. J.C. Watts about President Obama's drop in the polls. In fact, a new poll shows that former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are now more popular than Obama! Watts thinks all of what Obama has done during his first six months is now beginning to take a toll on his numbers. Geraldo said the protesters at Town Hall Meetings were a "bunch of crazies" at first, but not any longer. No, Geraldo. They never were a bunch of crazies. Only American citizens doing the nation a tremendous...

Still reeling from the worst month of his Presidency in terms of waning public support for his program initiatives, Barack Obama got even more bad news in the Sunday polling data:

In yet another reminder of the thinning of MSM influence, Obama's "net-stronglys" dropped a point.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That’s the President’s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama (see trends).

Approve/Disapprove = -2 Overall= +7

One of President Obama's favorite words is "unsustainable." It also happens to be the perfect description of his standing with the American people. Polls consistently find he is personally more popular than his major policies. That situation is unsustainable - something has to give. The first law of politics says the two must eventually get in sync. Bet that Obama's popularity will give. In part that's because, even if he wanted to, he can't undo the big policies the public doesn't like, especially his adding to the deficit and his aggressive push to get government more involved in private industry....

WASHINGTON -- After a fairly smooth opening, President Barack Obama faces new concerns among the American public about the budget deficit and government intervention in the economy as he works to enact ambitious health and energy legislation, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. These rising doubts threaten to overshadow the president's personal popularity and his agenda, in what may be a new phase of the Obama presidency. "The public is really moving from evaluating him as a charismatic and charming leader to his specific handling of the challenges facing the country," says Peter D. Hart, a Democratic pollster...

A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, falls well below his job approval ratings. A distinct gulf exists between Mr. Obama’s overall standing and how some of his key initiatives are viewed, with fewer than half of Americans saying they approve of how he has handled health care and the effort to save General Motors...