Obama's Sliding Approval Rating
Posted in Politics by Pete Spiliakos
Dr. Schramm points me to a
story on an AP-GfK poll which shows Obama losing ground among white voters (especially white independents), women, and independents (I wish I could find the actual poll crosstabs on the internet rather than just those publicized on news sites.) The 36% approval rate among white voters is ugly. We're talking losing a 45 state landslide in 1980s America-type ugly. It look a little better at Real Clear Politics. Obama's job approval average has been stuck in the
43% range for the last several weeks. That is below his previous floor of 44% and well within danger-of-losing range, but Harry Reid had a
lower job approval rating, higher unemployment in his constituency, and was still reelected with several percentage points to spare.
1:48 PM / August 28, 2011
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Get a twitter account, and follow every single polling agency you want, they will put out tweets linking to all sorts of crosstab "garbage/data dumps".
Also intrade puts out a list of its top twitter promoters, and a good chunk of those guys will retweet crosstabs, and poll results.
I am sure that even if Obama's numbers are as bad as Harry Reid's that he could beat a scientologist prison rehab advocate who wants to bring back prohibition. It is not exactly "tea party" to favor subsidizing or providing tax breaks to religious or quasi-religious organizations. So the Reid campaign effectively undermined her libertarian credentials/authenticity. Sharon Angle was a disaster, or a "tea party" caricature, that was in effect more or less a strawman. I think you could have won that race Pete.
I couldn't have beaten Reid and it will be months before I figure out twitter.
I don't think the scientology thing was Angle's biggest or third biggest problem. Her two problems were:
1. If she was asked any but the friendliest question, her affect turned to barely controlled hysteria.
2. She could neither explain away nor deflect questions about her earlier radical-sounding statements.
The 2012 Republican nominee probably won't have the second problem, but might have the first.