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Number23

(24,544 posts)
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:06 PM Apr 2013

CNN Poll: Obama at 51% approval but lower on key issues

'CNN Poll: Obama at 51% approval but lower on key issues'
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/08/cnn-poll-obama-at-51-approval-but-lower-on-key-issues/

Fifty-one percent of people questioned in the survey say they approve of how Obama is handling his duties as president, with 47% saying they disapprove. The president's approval rating is up four points from last month, but below his 55% high this year, recorded in mid-January just before his second inauguration.

"Throughout his first term, President Obama's ratings were typically boosted by positive views of him as a person rather than his policies, and that dynamic seems to be still in force in his second term," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "The change in Obama's approval rating comes among two key elements of his winning electorate coalition - women and younger Americans - suggesting that those old patterns are still in place."


So what's edged him out over the halfway point?

"The gain among people under 35 years old was a whopping 15 points, compared to no change at all in the middle age brackets and a seven-point drop among senior citizens, possibly fueled by concerns over Obama's proposed changes to Social Security," adds Holland. "Obama has also gained among moderates, while his high support among liberals and his low support among conservatives has remained unchanged."

This is one poll. But the 1012 adults questioned in this poll reflect reality at least several times more than anything on DU. And the vast majority of liberals support this president. There is much concern about his handling of the federal deficit (which would include the SS discussion) which was his lowest number at 38%.

But as the poll suggests, he has made tremendous inroads with women, with young people and his support among liberals is as high as its ever been and it was his strong support from liberals that inched him over the 50% mark. Only one president (Bill Clinton, another president with the honor of being despised by fringe elements of the Dem party) had higher numbers than Obama does now.

I think he's doing okay.
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Cha

(297,191 posts)
1. Thank you, 23, for the poll.
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:30 PM
Apr 2013

The President has an impossible situation with the intransient obstruction of the recons and I'm glad it's he who is working on getting the best for our country to move forward

Fingers crossed we can do it.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
2. And one thing I think is interesting is that Boehner has already stated he won't
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:43 PM
Apr 2013

support the president's deficit proposal. Which is exactly what every moderately informed person in America ALREADY KNEW.

But that critical point is always removed from the gnashing over this issue. Maybe proposing to cut SS is too much of sacred cow to some people, and that's okay. But when the proposed cuts also come with proposed tax increases to the rich which people living in caves at the bottom of the ocean know that the Repubs would never sign, then really. All of this just seems like idiotic posturing.

So this is what, the 114th time the president has been accused of "wanting" to cut SS, hating old people etc.? And it still hasn't happened and doesn't look as though it's going to. Maybe attempt lucky #115 will be the magic one!

Demoiselle

(6,787 posts)
3. Who, exactly, are "fringe elements of the Dem party?"
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:46 PM
Apr 2013

And why does concern about his handling of the federal deficit "include the SS discussion?" Social Security is funded by individual Social Security contributions.
Murky Research, indeed.










Number23

(24,544 posts)
4. Weren't his proposed cuts part of his attempts to lower the federal deficit?
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:58 PM
Apr 2013

Isn't that the whole damn point of all of this?

And the "fringe elements" are those lovely folks that say such remarkable things like "Nixon is to the left of Obama," that the president is a "conservative corporatist" despite every measure that says that the vast majority of America considers the president "too liberal."

That's about as fringe-y as the fringe can get. And I don't think anyone that has kept up with any trends in the American voting public would consider this "murky." This is what every measure has been saying all along. Liberals love Obama, conservatives hate him. Pretty consistent.

Demoiselle

(6,787 posts)
5. I don't care if the vast majority of Americans (wrongly) consider him too liberal.
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 09:06 PM
Apr 2013

I'm just trying to figure out what I think about him. I'm hardly a wild lefty ...but I worry when he hints at taking money out of social security to pay for the deficit..social security is the only pension that many ordinary people have...to take any of that away strikes me as remarkably regressive. .Corporate taxes are at an all time low, to name just one place where we might consider finding some cash. And I can't help but feeling that the Big Bad Deficit is not quite as dangerous as some would have us believe.
I meant "murky" to describe such aforementioned financial theories/plans. Nothing to do with trends in American voter thought.




Number23

(24,544 posts)
7. Well, the definition of "fringe" is one who is completely apart from the majority on an issue
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 09:50 PM
Apr 2013

Last edited Wed Apr 10, 2013, 04:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Not just a minority, but an estranged one as well. If the vast majority of Americans consider him a liberal, I don't particular care if that's wrong or not, and if someone who considers him a "conservative," then that is a fringe position. Particularly as it's also been asserted over and over and over again that Obama enjoys very broad and very deep support from liberals.

social security is the only pension that many ordinary people have...to take any of that away strikes me as remarkably regressive

It would definitely be regressive. But he has not done anything to take SS away, as far as I can tell. Using SS as a bargaining chip may be too much for some, but it's by no means the same as "taking it away."

Jamaal510

(10,893 posts)
11. I even heard
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 01:57 PM
Apr 2013

a few people on here claiming that he is to the right of Reagan. After all the race-baiting, war-mongering, and the trickle-down stuff Reagan did, how is Obama to the right of him? Just because of a few issues like the drones, chained CPI, and the Drug War, they act like he's a DINO. They never want to acknowledge the many things he did that actually helped the country out, like health care reform and extending tax cuts for non-rich families, and being the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. His endorsement alone was enough to help people come out of the closet and drum up support for it nationwide.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
13. I agree
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 07:03 PM
Apr 2013

And I'm not happy about the dependence on drones. While I will concede they are a far more preferable option than all out war and combat, it's the lack of humanity involved in them that truly concerns me. There is no human accountability, not that human accountability has ever meant all that much. Bush was as accountable as he could be and that immoral idiot still started the second (official) war in Iraq.

But the fact that someone could remote control a little plane and an entire village could be wiped out with very little accountability back home is a concern. But having said that, there has been a story in the Aussie newspapers about Aussie soldiers who attacked a village and killed two young children, somehow thinking they were hostiles. They know the names of the soldiers and everything there is to know about them, and they are still not facing serious prosecution. So it's all very subjective and very little of it is fair.

But I'm rambling a bit. I agree with what you've said completely. The incessant complainers will happily ignore/minimize or dismiss completely any assistance from the President to the less fortunate among us in order to come up with the astoundingly stupid bits about him being "to the right of Reagan and Nixon." It's embarrassing in its myopic stupidity and shows better than anything I could ever explain why so few people identify with the left or pay them hardly any attention.

 

graham4anything

(11,464 posts)
8. Women are going to change the world as President Obama's agenda continues long after 2016.
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 03:55 AM
Apr 2013

These numbers are unbelievably great.
Can one imagine how great America will be in lets say 2020 as long as President Obama's agenda continues to move more and more forward.

Due to the haters of all three, one might have questioned the wisdom back in 2009 of President Obama naming Hillary SOS, and conversly of Hillary accepting the nomination to SOS.

I believe in 100% of everything President Obama does, and nobody has ever been a smarter President, and smarter player of the political game.

Truly amazing the 10 steps ahead seeing of how things are, and in doing so, ensuring that his own agenda will continue after his two terms are over, hopefully forever.

That President Obama with all the hatred out there is over 50%, that Bill Clinton has the high ratings he does, That Hillary Clinton is 60percent AHEAD of any other 2016 challenger(something unheard of in any presidential poll where there was no incumbent) is mind blowing.

I am happy to be here along for the ride.

Haters be damned...no...
actually
Haters be ignored. They are daily becoming more and more irrelevant to the history in the making we are living in.

(and if Hillary does nominate Barack Obama to the US Supreme Court in 2018 or 2019, amazingly President Obama can seal the deal on all the issues he is leading the way on.
Putting the seal of approval on his own policies (and something that happened in US History before with President Taft making the successful transition from one to the other).

(and then there is Michelle...

Because we are FOR something and someone. We are positive.
We are not against and we are not the haters and negative.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
9. Well,
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 04:02 AM
Apr 2013

I don't totally agree with this: "I believe in 100% of everything President Obama does" because I think he has had some missteps. Plus, I don't believe 100% in anything ANYONE does.

But I do agree with this: "Haters be damned...no... actually Haters be ignored. They are daily becoming more and more irrelevant to the history in the making we are living in." 20-30 years from now, I have no doubt many of these incessant whiners (if they are still alive) will be trying to remind EEEEVERYBODY of how much they had this president's back and how proud they were to support him. Especially when their grandkids look at them like they are fools when they start to spout the "Obama is a conservative in Dem clothing" stupidity.

And I TOTALLY agree with this: "Women are going to change the world"

Thanks for your post.

 

graham4anything

(11,464 posts)
10. A president can only deal with the cards in the deck
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 04:33 AM
Apr 2013

The haters it seems, actually would hate if President Obama got 100% of what his long term vision is.
Which is it appears, the single reason they keep applying the hate, to stop it, like they have stopped others from achieving their long term goals by keep dividing and going backwards every 4 to 8 years instead of one continuous push forward.

They also have NEVER ever formulated any plan forward for anything.
Just stopping the forward movement and going backward, then claiming the world is going backward as the parade passes them by.

As to the 100% line-it is like the serenity poem-
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference

Following that and what is and is not possible, then one can believe 100% that everything that can be changed for the better can be possible.
And not sweat the parts that can't be.

(anyone would have had the Vietnam problems LBJ had
But only LBJ at that time and place had the courage to change what he did change, and he gave his all to change those things-the Voting and Civil Rights Acts and the other positive social accomplishments he got through).

Number23

(24,544 posts)
16. You've really just reached the crux of the matter
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 07:15 PM
Apr 2013
They also have NEVER ever formulated any plan forward for anything.

With this one sentence, you have really gotten to the gritty nub of the issue. The TRUE meat of the matter.

When you see the incessant whiners begin their orgies of misery and despair, pay attention. Inevitably someone will ALWAYS ask "who do you guys think could give you what it is that you want?" Oh, the sputtering that will commence! The stammering!! The hemming and hawing!

And then they will begin to toss out names. "Alan Grayson/Dennis Kucinich/Howard Dean other (mostly white) politician that may have some great convictions on certain issues but couldn't win the presidency of their local Dairy Queen because they are viewed as too liberal/communist/anti-American for large swaths of the voting public."

Then the desperation kicks in and you'll hear the most face-palm inducing names that makes you question these people's sanity. "Matt Damon!" "Ashley Judd!" I'm just waiting to hear "Brian from Family Guy."

As you said, politics is ONLY about what is and is not possible. I mean, for people that practically break their arms patting themselves on the back with how "informed" and "knowledgeable" they are, many of them are in fact, incredibly stupid.

I hear what you're saying about the believing 100% and I respect that. I don't share your opinion but I do understand where you're coming from.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
14. That's it!
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 07:05 PM
Apr 2013

I was trying to remember the phrase after I saw the same literally 4-5 posters enter what looked like every single thread in GD yesterday with their uniquely desperate brand of gleeful gloom.

"Despair trolling." Yep, that was it.

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