Gallup: PRINCETON, NJ -- Thirty-eight percent of independents approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, the first time independent approval of Obama has dropped below 40% in a Gallup Daily tracking weekly aggregate. Meanwhile, Obama maintains the support of 81% of Democrats, and his job approval among Republicans remains low, at 12%.
Over the past year, Obama has lost support among all party groups, though the decline has been steeper among independents than among Republicans or Democrats. Today's 38% approval rating among independents is 18 percentage points lower than the 56% found July 6-12, 2009. During the same period, his support has fallen nine points among Democrats (from 90% to 81%) and eight points among Republicans (from 20% to 12%).
Overall, 46% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing as president in the June 28-July 4 aggregate, one point above his lowest weekly average. Obama's average weekly job approval rating has not been above 50% since Feb. 8-14, though it reached the 50% mark as recently as May 3-9. [MORE]
What I find surprising is that Obama has held on to 40% of Independents for this long. Over the past year it is become terribly obvious that Hope and Change is nothing like what was promised. Yet there still is 38% of Independents who approve of Obama’s performance.
Since these folks supposedly do not have an ideological axe to grind, I would love to know what exactly they approve of. If I had to guess, I would say their approval might be directly tied to how they benefit from Government largesse. I hope Gallup will delve a little deeper into this question soon.
While many may see these numbers as a welcome sign that Obama is destine to be a one termer, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air provides the appropriate caution:
How dangerous is this for Obama? Well, as I keep arguing, Obama will be President for the next two-and-a-half years regardless of what people think about him. That’s a long time in politics, and Obama could make a Clintonian pirouette and become a supply-sider and free-marketeer in the second half of this term. That helped Bill Clinton win back independents in 1996, and the same could happen to Obama. If the economy roars back to life in 2011, Obama will regain some of his footing with independents, but getting that kind of recovery absolutely depends on dramatically changing course on policy, too.
The danger is for Democrats in the midterms. With this significant of a collapse in standing, two dynamics come into play. First, the independents who turned out for Obama in 2008 will not show up in 2010. Worse, those who do will show up to vote against Obama and his agenda. This poll shows a high level of disillusionment among independents especially, and they can only demonstrate their anger at that by kicking Obama’s allies out of Congress. Obama had better hope that satisfies them.
In other words, lets not start counting 2012 chickens and let all stay focus on making sure the Democrats get the beating they deserve in 2010.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: Gallup
Via: Hot Air