I follow Rasmussen’s daily tracking of Obama’s popularity, and have watched it fall since his inauguration, and I’ve also watched how no mainstream media is even remotely interested in acknowledging it, choosing instead to allow people to believe it’s as strong as ever. Since they made such a major “news” item of his popularity being so high, they now have a journalistic duty to now report that it isn’t high at all, and provide poeple with a clear understanding of the issues.
But they don’t care about journalistic duty or responsibility.
This is the opening of an article by Douglas E. Schoen, formerly a pollster for President Bill Clinton, and Scott Rasmussen, a renowned independent pollster:
Obama’s Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth
It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama’s high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration. Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.
Polling data show that Mr. Obama’s approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama’s net presidential approval rating—which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve—is just six, his lowest rating to date.
Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president’s performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.
A detailed examination of presidential popularity after 50 days on the job similarly demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries. The reason for this decline most likely has to do with doubts about the administration’s policies and their impact on peoples’ lives.
There is also a clear sense in the polling that taxes will increase for all Americans because of the stimulus, notwithstanding what the president has said about taxes going down for 95% of Americans. Close to three-quarters expect that government spending will grow under this administration.
Recent Gallup data echo these concerns. That polling shows that there are deep-seeded, underlying economic concerns. Eighty-three percent say they are worried that the steps Mr. Obama is taking to fix the economy may not work and the economy will get worse.
[…]
NITPICK ALERT:
I believe it’s “deep seated”, not “deep seeded”.
Yeah I already said it was nitpicking so bite me.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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