The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years. Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April. The bad polling news came as Mr Obama returned to the campaign trail to prevent his Democratic party losing two governorships next month in states in which he defeated Senator John McCain in last November’s election.
Jeffrey Jones of Gallup explained: “The dominant political focus for Obama in the third quarter was the push for health care reform, including his nationally televised address to Congress in early September. “Obama hoped that Congress would vote on health care legislation before its August recess, but that goal was missed, and some members of Congress faced angry constituents at town hall meetings to discuss health care reform. Meanwhile, unemployment continued to climb near 10 per cent.”
Republicans sense Mr Obama is in a vulnerable position and this week saw the return to the public stage of his perhaps most vehement opponent – Vice-President Dick Cheney. In a blistering speech on Wednesday night, he accused Mr Obama of failing to give Americans troops on the ground a clear mission or defined goals and of being seemingly “afraid to make a decision” about Afghanistan “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” Cheney said at the Center for Security Policy in Washington. “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.”
Particularly insightful since the first of our pro-US allies has already begun to be turned off by this administration catering to bloodthirsty tyrants and snubbing the inspirational. Europe goes conservative and we still think we’re headed in the right direction? When will leftists learn?
one term . and after 4 years he will still blame bush .
Oh my. We may as well pack it in. *sigh*
Jeffrey Jones from Gallup THE Jeffrey Jones, beloved as Ferris Bueller’s principal, and Peewee Hermann’s porn buddy?
Obama might discover a correlation between his poll numbers dropping and the amount of time he spends in front of cameras. Seriously! If he were to stay inside the White House and never go on TV, his numbers would at least not get worse.
Oh!! Wait a minute! Then he would be face to face with Michelle and her old lady. No wonder he’s gone all the time.
If Cheney had it to do over again, he’d probably recommend something easier like invading Costa Rica (an al qaeda vaction spot).