The metric that went nowhere

Amidst all the terrible news for Obama, there is one item that is not bad. Remember the continual Republican gloating, month after month, about Obama’s “plummeting” approval rating, which was, we were told a hundred times, in “free fall”? Well, guess what? In a piece at The Daily Caller, which otherwise predicts sweeping losses for the Democrats, it is reported that Obama’s approval rating is holding at 45 percent, exactly where it’s been for the last six months. When we last discussed this issue, some commenters pointed out that while the “plummeting” description was incorrect, the president’s approval was steadily declining. But for whatever reason, that has turned out not to be the case. I personally am not happy about this. I think he ought to have an approval rating of 25, an approval rating of zero. But the fact is that the touted fall has not happened.

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David B. writes:

Regarding Obama’s poll rating staying at 45 percent, this is what I’ve been saying all along. His poll numbers will not fall as low as those of George W. Bush.

I saw a recent news item that Obama has a rating among blacks of 91 percent. If blacks are around 12 percent of the population and almost every one of them approves of Obama, that alone keeps him from going too low. You can add nonwhites in general, “anti-racist” white liberals, and 100 percent backing from the establishment media.

With the above support, a rating of 45 percent is in a sense, not impressive. However, he has it and will be hard to beat in 2012 without a strong GOP alternative.

LA replies:

In reply to David’s point I should add that when I was drafting the entry, I thought of saying half-jokingly that the president’s approval rating ought to be 28 percent, based on 13 percent of the country being black, 13 percent of the country being Hispanic, and two percent of the country being Jewish.

Sophia A. writes:

I think Rasmussen has a good track record. According to the latest Presidential tracking poll, only 27 percent of voters strongly approve of his performance, while 43 percent strongly disapprove. I also think that the mid-term elections are the truest metric of how the general public really feels about a President.

Having said that, Obama has a bedrock of support among blacks. The only thing that would change that is if Obama is caught in flagrante with a white woman, and that’s not going to happen.

N. writes:

A quick mental estimate tells me that Obama’s support level is about right. Black people support him 90 plus percent, and they constitute about 15 percent of the population. The various Mexican, Central American, and South American groups that are labeled “Hispanic” are another 15 percent or so of the population, and with the exception of Cubans they seem to support him at a level close to that of blacks. That leaves about another 15 percent or so of the population as diehard leftists, who will surely support Obama no matter what.

What is baffling to me is the blind, willful intransigence of so many Republicans, who cannot look at this base, this rock solid support for a President that is in total opposition to everything Republicans allegedly stand for, and reach a conclusion about immigration. If “Hispanics” are willing to support a Democrat no matter what, then it is political suicide for Republicans to support an endless parade of Hispanics into the country. It is really that simple. But they can’t get their minds around that fact. Why? It is a mystery.

LA replies:

No it’s not. It’s been explained at this site a thousand times. Higher than the imperative for political survival is the first and most important Commandment of the Liberal American Creed:

We are a Universal Country, therefore thou shalt not discriminate.

Dan K. writes:

You wrote: ” I think he ought to have an approval rating of 25, an approval rating of zero. But the fact is that the touted fall has not happened.”

Await the impending collapse in the markets. The fall in the Obama’s approval will be historic paralleling the drop in people’s wallet and pensions. The right shoulder of a massive head and shoulder is building and (perhaps) nearly completed. Abandon all hope ye President’s men who gaze upon the chart below from The Elliott Wave Theorist, P.O. Box 1618, Gainseville, GA 30503, October, 2010 issue.

Jim B. writes:

I think one thing to keep in mind the next few weeks is how no one is comparing Obama to FDR anymore. The 1934 midterm elections (look at the results here) were the only mid-term election in history in which the president’s party gained seats (nine in the Senate and nine in the House). Obama now looks likely to preside over the worst debacle in the history of the Democratic party.

I knew FDR, FDR was a friend of mine: you’re no FDR, sir.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 13, 2010 09:34 AM | Send