Not the politics of usual?
As they often do, pollsters recently asked Americans if they thought the country was headed in the "right" or the "wrong" direction. The results were resounding: By a 5-1 margin, Americans think their country is headed in the "wrong" direction. PBS Newshour reported this today. Read it here. This metric was basically true across demographics. No matter old or young, white or black, rich or poor, conservative or liberal - Americans are pessimistic about their future. With the recent jobs report out, fears about a second recession seem to have lessened. That's a relief! But, the unemployment only dropped 0.1% from 9.1% to 9%. That's obviously not enough of an improvement to ameliorate any concerns about long-term unemployment. Read the new jobs report here.
What's fascinating is how strong President Obama's popularity has remained. While President Obama supporters would gasp at the previous sentence - and his popularity is dramatically down from when he first became president - historically speaking he is faring quite well. In recent polls he's essentially tied with a generic Republican opposition candidate and up by several percentage points over Mitt Romney. Usually, the litmus test for presidents' reelection bids is this: Is the country is doing better or worse than it was when he became president. Considering that people overwhelmingly think the country is heading in the wrong direction by a margin of 5-1, President Obama's poll numbers are surprisingly good. Could it be a residual effect from his extreme popularity just three years ago? Is his message of change and hope still resonating with Americans, albeit softer and softer as time goes on?
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Question: Why are President Obama's poll numbers so good (relatively speaking!)?
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