President Obama's honeymoon with the American public appears to be over with. His approval rating in regards to job performance has been slipping lately. According to the Zogby poll President Obama's approval rating is 45% and his disapproval rating is 51%. Now over half of the American public is starting to disapprove of the job Obama is doing. The Gallup poll has 51% approving of Obama's job performance and 41% disapproving. The Rasmussen poll has 48% of the American public approving Obama's job performance with a 52% disapproval rating. The Rasmussen poll also shows 31% strongly approving of Obama's job performance ad 39% strongly disapproving. Those are disappointing numbers for Obama's seven months in office.
Zogby also tracks both Democrats and Republicans in regards to their approval ratings of President Obama. 84% of self-described Democrats approve of Obama's job performance in comparison to 6% of self-described Republicans approve of Obama's job performance. It's not the divide among the party loyalists that's affecting Obama--it's the Independents that voted for Obama last fall. Zogby has 59% of Independents disapproving of Obama's job performance. That's a negative for Obama. It's the independent voter that Obama needs to rely on in order for him to maintain a high approval rating.
Why is Obama's approval rating dipping in the polls? Both Rasmussen and the Drudge polls say it's due to the free spending ways of our federal goverment. They say that government's spending is out of control. The American public doesn't agree with the government's move toward socialism with the bailouts of our floundering corporations as well as our government trying to take over the corporations. Another thing that's concerning numerous voters is President Obama's drive to overhaul our healthcare industry and to nationalize healthcare. Many voters are expressing their frustration at the town hall meetings where many of the Democratic lawmakers are trying to sell Obama's healthcare plan to the public. It's backfiring on our elected officials. The public fears that "Obamacare" will eliminate the healthcare coverage many Americans already have. They don't want to see their coverage eliminated due to nationalizing health care. Some Americans are fearful what "the end of life" counseling could mean if it's passed by Congress. Some are fearful it could result in physician-assisted suicides that such doctors such as Jack Kevorkian performed during the 90's.
In breaking down the demographics when it comes to Obama's job performance, most of those that are very liberal in their views and are strongly Democratic still support Obama. Most left-wing ideologues still support Obama. Most young adults which range from ages 18-29 who are college students, graduates or are in graduate school still support Obama. Around 92% of the black population support Obama. A sizable number of Hispanics support Obama. On the other side, most of those that describe themselves as Republican or conservative have a very low approval rating of Obama. A high percentage of white men disapprove of Obama's job performance. Many Christian conservatives disapprove of Obama's performance. Obama still has his core liberal base. Those on the Right still don't support Obama. The break is with the Independents. A growing number of independents disapprove Obama's job performance. That's why Obama's poll numbers are slipping.
Obama needs to be concerned about the independent voter. The independent voters aren't ideologues or are as concerned about political philosophy. They view things from a practical standpoint. For example, more and more independents are frustrated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's not because they're anti-war, but they haven't seen significant progress in both countries to warrant the U.S. to still be in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with ideology. Most independents will vote their pocketbooks, rightly or wrongly. Obama's policies ranging from the stimulus to his proposal to overhaul our nation's healthcare system hasn't benefitted the average American. The independents sense that and that's why they are opposed to Obama. They feel the government is only interested in representing Wall Street and the interests of the Oil companies and aren't representing the interests of the average American. Obama doesn't need to be concerned with his own base of loyal supporters. He needs to be concerned with the independent voter. The 2010 election is going to be difficult for the Democrats unless President Obama and the Democrats in Congress alter their socialist agenda. The American public isn't in any mood for a radical transformation of America into a socialist state.
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