Obama, Obamacare At Record Low Approval, Per CBS Poll

Other people are linking this, but let me link Freddoso's Conservative Intelligence Briefing, because he included this gif, and I like pictures:

Big numbers: Obama's down to 37% job approval, with 57% disapproving (!). Support for Obamacare itself is down to 31%, with 61% disapproving (!!).

Preferences seem to be cascading:

No loss of support for Obamacare? Uh, sorry, folks, but the loss of support is actually pretty huge — 22 points on net in just one month.

Among Democrats, a 26-point swing against Obamacare. Among independents, a net 23-point swing against Obamacare. Both in just one month[.]

An ABCNews-Washington Post poll released yesterday was not quite so bad for Obama, but it was still very bad:

OBAMA FACES RECORD DISAPPROVAL NUMBERS:

...

The president’s job approval rating has fallen to 42 percent in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll, down 13 percentage points this year and 6 points in the past month to match the lowest of his presidency. Fifty-five percent disapprove — a record. And 70 percent say the country’s headed seriously off on the wrong track — up 13 points since May to the most in two years.

THE PRESIDENT’S PERSONAL IMAGE HAS SUFFERED: President Obama is also at career lows for being a strong leader (down by 15 points this year and a vast 31 points below its peak shortly after he took office), understanding the problems of average Americans and being honest and trustworthy — numerically under water on each of these, LANGER notes. Just 41 percent rate him as a good manager; 56 percent think not. And fewer than half — 46 percent — see him favorably overall, down 14 points this year to the fewest of his presidency. Fifty-two percent now view him unfavorably, a new high and a majority for the first time since he took office.

OBAMACARE’S MOST NEGATIVE RATING TO DATE: Americans by nearly 2-1, 63-33 percent, disapprove of Obama’s handling of implementation of the new health care law. And the public by 57-40 percent now opposes the law overall, with opposition up by 8 points in the past month alone. Fifty-six percent describe the cancellation of health insurance policies that are deemed substandard under the law as “mismanagement” rather than a normal startup problem.

Remember when Republicans were being shellacked for wishing to delay Obamacare? Sure you do. It was like the Summer of Sharks -- a minor story puffed up into prominence by a slow news month before the horrible news of 9/11.

Here's the public on delaying an important part of Obamacare, the individual mandate:

Given the breakdown of the HealthCare.gov website, a broad 71 percent favor postponing the individual mandate requiring nearly all Americans to have coverage. And the mandate’s still widely unpopular in any case; 65 percent of Americans oppose it — a majority of them, strongly. Notably, even among those who support the individual mandate, 55 percent favor delaying it.

Getting back to that picture, and I do like pictures: How does Obama claw his way out of this hole? This is not something easily gotten over, like Bill Clinton's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.

Because, even though the public disapproved of that affair, and being lied to about it, three things were true in that case:

1. Bill Clinton's sexual dalliance did not in fact "affect his job performance," as liberals constantly screamed. They screamed it... and it was actually true. Although the perjury was a serious charge, committing perjury did not reduce the GDP or the like.

2. Bill Clinton did not continue getting beejers from Monica Lewinsky during the Lewisky scandal, and continue exploring the possibilities of a cigar as a marital aid throughout the duration of his second term.

3. The economy was in great shape, unemployment was down to record lows (like 3.8% in one month), and we had a surplus.

That's why I say that was easily brushed aside, in relative terms. Compare that support-eroding event to Obamacare:

1. Obamacare does in fact "affect Obama's job performance," because it is his job performance. Unlike Bill Clinton, Obama cannot say, "I'm ignoring these distractions in order to focus on working for the American people." Obamacare is his work for the American people, and the American people strongly disapprove.

His only real out here is to agree to repeal it, which, of course, he will not do. If/when he gets down into the twenties, enough Democrats may vote to override his veto of a bill repealing Obamacare.

2. Unlike Bill Clinton, Obama cannot say his filthy affair with redistributive socialism is "in the past" and he's "seeking counseling and the ministering of Jesse Jackson" to "heal himself" of these defects. Obama intends to continue having his torrid public affair with Spreading the Wealth Around until January 2017.

And he won't apologize for it, not really. What he says is basically Woody Allen's non-apology: "The heart wants what it wants." You'll just have to understand his love affair with socialism-- because he's too much in love to break it off.

3. On the economy, I will only say "Obama's economy" because to say more would be to insult your intelligence.

So that leaves that jpg's suggestion: He will just have to avoid talking about it, and hope that taxpayers don't notice he's taking thousands of dollars from them -- sometimes ten thousand dollars or more -- in order to pay for his constant romantic getaways in the Poconos with his socialist mistress.

And how's that going to work?

And does he think the public won't notice when he begins a new, second affair, this time with taking away employer-provided insurance just before the mid-terms?

Obama's in that very special hell, maybe the Circle reserved for the arrogant and deceitful: He can't move forward, and he can't move back. And he also can't stay where he is.

But oh I know: He'll give a speech. Right?

posted by Ace at 03:22 PM

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