New Marist poll shows Obama losing independents 2-1
posted at 12:55 pm on February 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
So much for a post-SOTU bounce. A new Marist poll of registered voters nationwide puts Barack Obama’s approval at just 44%, the same as the Rasmussen tracking poll this weekend. The numbers among independents will really rattle the White House (via Geoff A):
Fewer registered voters nationwide — 44% — currently approve of President Barack Obama’s job performance than disapprove — 47%. When Marist last asked about the president’s approval rating in December, 46% thought well of Obama’s job performance while 44% gave him low marks.
Perhaps, particularly concerning for Mr. Obama is the drop in support among Independents. For the first time since taking office, a majority of Independents — 57% — disapproves of how he is doing in the role. 29% approve, and 14% are unsure. …
“If attracting Independents and bipartisanship are the aim, then the president clearly has a lot of ground to cover in year two,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
The news gets worse from there. The number of Democrats who believe that Obama is changing the country for the better remains relatively high, but dropped from 76% just two months ago to 69% now. But among independents, that number has flipped. Two months ago, they split at 36%, but now almost a majority (45%) believe he’s changing the country for the worse, while only 26% believe the opposite.
Obama can’t rely on personal favorability for much longer, either. Consistently across all pollsters, Obama generally has solid majorities of people that personally like him. Not any longer; among all Marist respondents, that number is down to 50%, losing five points since December. A majority of independents (52%) hold an unfavorable view of Obama personally, up nine points in two months.
The upcoming midterms will definitely be a problem for Obama and the Democrats. Already, a majority of respondents see the elections as a referendum either on Obama himself or Democratic leadership in Congress (54% combined), while only 18% want to send a message to the GOP. That impulse is as strong with independents (61%) as it is with Republicans (62%), and almost as strong among Democrats (48%).
This spells disaster in the midterms for Democrats. Of late, their efforts have gone into casting Republicans as the villains that kept the Democratic agenda from being seen as properly benign, but that campaign has been ongoing for the last two months and has had no lifting effect. They had better reconsider that agenda instead.
Blowback
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I saw Obama’s picture first, and then read that as “Marxist” poll.
Daggett on February 8, 2010 at 12:56 PM
His last good accomplishment will be his first…
Sonosam on February 8, 2010 at 12:58 PM
OT: Just heard a John McCain commercial during Rush’s commercial break bashing JD. Johnny is sounding an awful lot like Arlen Specter these days. I seriously thought he had Arlen endorsing him when he started talking.
Kelligan on February 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM
LOL Me too!
txhsmom on February 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM
I think he needs to get out more, get some TV face time. Maybe he can appear at Daytona next week, or perhaps the NBA all-star game, maybe the Olympics.
JammieWearingFool on February 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Partisan split?
nickj116 on February 8, 2010 at 1:00 PM
3 people isn’t a very big sample size.
I always think of that joke when I see a headline like that. That is my curse in life.
zmdavid on February 8, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Ooh, I wish he would. I’d love to hear him get roundly boo’d.
nickj116 on February 8, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Lol. xD
Very nice. Reminds be of a quip my uncle would make.
nickj116 on February 8, 2010 at 1:01 PM
Someone send this to the GOP idiots who want to look like they’re working with The Precedent on his insane, un-Constitutonal, un-American health care takeover. Let the bill die (i.e. don’t even bother talking about it) and let The Precedent and his Washington junta eat it.
America is finally coming out of the psychotic break that was set off by the credit crisis and America looks at the bed and doesn’t like what it seems to have done, on Nov 4th 2008, while seriously impaired.
neurosculptor on February 8, 2010 at 1:01 PM
Not only are Independents tracking away from him, but there has been a surge of those identifying themselves as Independents. And I don’t believe that surge shows any signs of slowing.
PrincipledPilgrim on February 8, 2010 at 1:01 PM
We are having a Valentine Dinner Dance at the VFW this Saturday night, I think I could work him for a 15 minute appearance.
Johnnyreb on February 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM
I predict that The One will be pictured with a pickup truck really soon.
Philly on February 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM
msm needs to stop touting that over 50% still approve of dear leader
cmsinaz on February 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Don’t give those fools any ideas…
trigon on February 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Are you kidding me, Ed? These folks are as tone deaf as I am blind.
The “blame Bush” theme will continue for the next 3 years. He just can’t help himself.
Knucklehead on February 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM
+1
spot on
cmsinaz on February 8, 2010 at 1:04 PM
He’ll be throwing someone under the wheels of the pickup truck, probably Rahmbo.
Philly on February 8, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Don’t give them any ideas!!!
Knucklehead on February 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM
But the mullahs in Iran and the thousands of Saudi princes still love him and that’s the only poll he cares about.
Western_Civ on February 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM
Yesterday when I saw him on CBS I couldn’t believe it. I would like just one day where I didn’t have to see that jack-%^&.
txaggie on February 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM
Maybe Obama should try running for office in Cuba! I’m sure they’d LOVE his health care plans.
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM
+1… LMAO
P. Monk on February 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM
He has no other recourse since his own policies are running the country over a cliff. He’s just yelling on the way down, “It’s Bush’s fault!”
Christian Conservative on February 8, 2010 at 1:06 PM
THERE!!!
This is the reason Obama is doing the C-Span symposium with the Republicans as I already explained in my comment on that post. If Republicans do the C-Span symposium without doing the things I suggested in the C-Span comment I made, it’s a lose-lose for Republicans to go.
Danzo on February 8, 2010 at 1:06 PM
Oh noooooooooo. It looks like the end-game 3 years early.
kens on February 8, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Daytona, heh.
PBHO: “So are these cars hybrid or electric?”
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:08 PM
The dem agenda comes straight from the Indonesian imbecile and they can’t change that. He wants America to be brought to its knees, and that is how the agenda will continue. The Precedent doesn’t care how popular or unpopular any of it is, since he just wants to sow chaos and destroy us. The useful idiots on the Hill are already too deep in cohoots with the Indonesian to pull out, now. They’ve made too many America-killing votes and argued too often in an insane fashion against America. They applauded The Precedent’s World Traitor Tour. They have cast their lot with the Indonesian imbecile and he will continue to try and break America.
Someday people will realize why The Precedent went to Copenhagen without having the Olympics in the bag – because it was a win-win for him. If he got the Olympics, he gained political power and his criminal friends got filthy rich. If he lost, dramatically, as happened, then he helped to suck more dignity and respect out of the Office of the Presidency, which is of more interest to him. This is the sort of thinking that drives his agenda and why it will not change in its anti-American stance.
neurosculptor on February 8, 2010 at 1:08 PM
ROFL!!! The man probably wears t-shirts with his image on them underneath the Brooks Brothers suits. LOL
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:08 PM
Obama inherited the worst situation any president EVER had to take.
I give him credit for the country not being in EVEN worse shape.
Palin Steele on February 8, 2010 at 1:09 PM
The writing is on the
handwall. Obama is a loser.lorien1973 on February 8, 2010 at 1:09 PM
According to Rush earlier, the Republicans gave a cold shoulder to the invite. So we shall see what happens from here.
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:10 PM
If you’re like me, and I assume a majority of Americans, you blindly, frantically, grope for the remote as soon as he appears.
He seems to not recognize over exposure, and he most assuredly is over exposed!
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:10 PM
Obviously the American public just don’t understand! Why with all the misinformation and all. You know, like, the things he says…
“one ball” Obama…
enoughalready on February 8, 2010 at 1:10 PM
*cough cough Carter cough cough*
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:11 PM
JammieWearingFool on February 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM
The L.A. Times is reporting that Barry is sending Crazy Joe to the Olympics in Vancouver. Won’t that make the Canadians think highly of us?
NebCon on February 8, 2010 at 1:11 PM
LOL…My eyes are bleeding at the very thought of it!!!
P. Monk on February 8, 2010 at 1:12 PM
How do you lose something… you never had?
upinak on February 8, 2010 at 1:12 PM
Bahahahahahahaha You just keep telling yourself that. You refuse to see that Obama was complicit in budgets past, by voting yay on every single increase that came to his attention, and that Dems had control of all budgets since 2007. So…if you need to believe in the fairy dems, go right ahead. If that helps you sleep at night….go for it. You’re only deluding yourself.
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:12 PM
ninja… what are you smoking?
upinak on February 8, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Yep. Takes a real man of genius to turn an $800 billion deficit into a $12 trillion deficit and creat NO JOBS in the process. ‘Ol “one ball obama” is ‘da man!
enoughalready on February 8, 2010 at 1:14 PM
Dude, seriously no one can be that stupid.
Johnnyreb on February 8, 2010 at 1:14 PM
Cue Flight of the Independents theme music.
Obama: “It needs more cowbell.”
Lily on February 8, 2010 at 1:14 PM
he had to take more debt to save our country from a depression.
unlike bush, who had a choice, Obama didn’t have a choice.
Palin Steele on February 8, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Two words: Dead Cat Bounce {/Biden]
jukin on February 8, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Obama is a political corpseman.
A Marxist poll would help, now.
Russian and China luv him lots.
profitsbeard on February 8, 2010 at 1:16 PM
You forgot the “sarc” tag.
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:16 PM
You must be thinking of his internal polling.
Joe Caps on February 8, 2010 at 1:17 PM
If only Obama were on TV more to explain his policies maybe more people would approve.
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:17 PM
Yeah man Lincoln had it easy compared to him.
Joe Caps on February 8, 2010 at 1:17 PM
Dude you need to warn me when you post comedy gold like that. I almost spilled my coffee all over the laptop.
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Are you still in kindergarten?
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:18 PM
So America is saved now?
No shiite. Those poor souls I see lined up outside the unemployment office will be glad to hear it. I’ll drive a mile down the road to find the end of the line and tell them “The U.S. is saved, pass it on.”
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:19 PM
How is that? When all that debt amounted to saving jobs already there. Teachers, police, firefighters etc….and the rest went to slush funds, and plying their political allies and donors with cash, and favors returned….how is that a choice that saved the country? Hmmmmm? None of the stimulus, porkulus ect, has done one damn thing to help create one job, or boost the economy.
Check the polls darlin. The rest of the country is seeing it. You lag behind. Why? Is there a recessive gene floating around in your brain, or are you just crushin on Obama?
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:19 PM
And Truman inherited a walk in the park.
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:19 PM
I think Sarah’s basic message is resonating.
She’s right. Obama’s campaign “moves” aren’t working.
I really think that the issue was voting for the first AA president. Now that the country has done that, he’s not so special.
That should have been anticipated by “savvy” campaign staff around him. Apparently, they deluded themselves that Ferarro was wrong.
Well, they were wrong.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:20 PM
I don’t understand why people personally like the arrogant, narcassist-in-chief. He’s just an idiotic a$$hole in my opinion.
txag92 on February 8, 2010 at 1:22 PM
The country was caught up in a long-term guilt trip over slavery. Obama offered a way out.
But that certainly didn’t mean that they supported the far-left agenda.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Have you seen the price of arugula lately?
jukin on February 8, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Hey, genius. Reagan inherited a much worse situation. And to add insult to injury, dude was shot and nearly killed just a few months into his first term.
Doughboy on February 8, 2010 at 1:23 PM
I think the real issue is how to progress. Clearly, we are failing.
Why? What to do next?
Anyone who sounds overconfident is probably a fool. I’m not sure any path is necessarily a given success.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:23 PM
What a freaking idiot you are! The economy would be rebounded by now with tax cuts and incentives for business to hire. We are in a depression now caused by massive public debt competing for and preventing private sector lending and Marxist policies trying to be implemented by this one-balled loser. Obama is incompetent to lead, an utter failure and the most divisive and damaging precedent of all time. He is such a joke. You liberal lemmings are so incapable of independent thought. Thank God you are a dying breed. You are destined to live in your Mom’s basement for a long, long time.
enoughalready on February 8, 2010 at 1:24 PM
They “like” him because anyone who doesn’t like him is racist. So to show the pollsters how un-racist they are, people can say I like him, but I don’t like his policies. It’s a total cop out but it makes sense.
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:24 PM
Now if someone would just tell Obama….
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:24 PM
I had to run Saturday, to pick up a few items at the grocery. In a few days , a gallon of milk here jumped from $2.19 to $3.84. I was SHOCKED!!! Here comes the inflation!!!
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:24 PM
As did Ronald Reagan.
Knucklehead on February 8, 2010 at 1:25 PM
Speak for yourself Ann. I had nothing to do with electing this person or any of his cohorts in Congress. We? Hell no.
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:25 PM
I think that saving the Banks which saved the financial situation was smart.
But there were a lot who said, “That’s foolish.”
Maybe they were right. Maybe the slow ride down is going to be worse.
I honestly don’t know.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:26 PM
I wonder if my banker will accept that reasoning.
I know that I owe you $1,000,000. But if you just let me spend another $10,000,000, everything will be just fine and dandy.
PappaMac on February 8, 2010 at 1:26 PM
I didn’t vote for Obama. That’s irrelevant.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:27 PM
Oh, of course. The old “we have to spend MORE money to get ourselves out of debt.”
Seriously, put down the crack pipe before you burn your lips.
Dominion on February 8, 2010 at 1:28 PM
AngryEd, didn’t The One tell us to turn off the TV and blame the media? Hmmmm. Maybe that’s why I missed the 420 speeches he gave about health care or something.
Philly on February 8, 2010 at 1:28 PM
Big deal, that’s nothing compared to other items.
I went to Snob Coffee Shop the other day and my favorite latte (double large truffle chocolate with fluff cream and just a hint of Madagascar cinnamon) had gone up 85 cents. 85 cents! I darned near dropped my copy of “Dreams Of My Father” on the floor in shock.
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:28 PM
To be fair, that COULD have been caused by the massive snowstorm that hit the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday/Saturday. We’re still digging out from that.
Where are you located?
UltimateBob on February 8, 2010 at 1:29 PM
I bought a new cappuncino maker that was so cheap that I only have to make 20 good lattes to make it pay off.
There are solutions. :)
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Many (but not all) independents are independents because they don’t love politics and thus don’t pay attention as much as they might. Now they are waking up.
rhombus on February 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Nope. Banks that didn’t need tarp money, were forced to take it, pay it back, with interest. Most of the banks have paid back their debt, and are now demonized, and being threatened with excessive taxation, that will be paid for, not by the banks, but by their customers.
With any business, they should be allowed to prosper or fail on their own merits, and banks helped with the fall, but the Government was instrumental in seeing it thru. Now they still insist on the same policies that got us into this pickle in the first place. This is a direct way to socialize the banks. Is that really something we want? I don’t!!
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM
I find this environment sort of fun. Figure out solutions.
AnninCA on February 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM
I’m in Southeast Texas. Near Houston. :D Milk is usually an up, and down commodity, but I’ve never seen it rise $1.70 within a few days. I just wasn’t expecting that. lol
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:31 PM
Let it go. Maybe it will immolate itself and we won’t have to hear from it again.
PappaMac on February 8, 2010 at 1:32 PM
ROFLMAO!!!
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:32 PM
No, liberal / socialist / Marxist dogma is selfish and works only to consolidate power into the hands of a ruling class. It works on the guilty, the power hungry “elitists” and the stupid and lazy who think other people are the source of their problems. It is now being accelerated to the point of being exposed for the sham it is. This Congress has failed to listen to its electorate and has failed in the process. Our constitution will allow for the purging of these failed politicians in November and the destruction of the liberal legislative agenda and executive decisions that have been made.
enoughalready on February 8, 2010 at 1:32 PM
Republican leaders,
Send a message to the President that you can discuss health insurance industry takeovers later, after the work on the economy is done.
Am I the only one who thinks that despite saying he’s concentrating on ‘jobs first’, the president’s priorities have changed not a whit?
ROCnPhilly on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
But this is the left’s idea of making a decent living: getting a credit line large enough to use until you die, thus leaving your creditors holding the bag with a bankrupt estate. The left is applying this same line of thinking to America.
I also love how the lefties call giving money to leeches “investment”. That’s always a good one.
neurosculptor on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
I went to Snob Coffee Shop the other day and my favorite latte (double large truffle chocolate with fluff cream and just a hint of Madagascar cinnamon) had gone up 85 cents. 85 cents! I darned near dropped my copy of “Dreams Of My Father” on the floor in shock.
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:28 PM
I don’t drink coffee but that sounds kinda frou-frou. You must be one of the evil rich folks. :)
txag92 on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
YOU LIE!
angryed on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Wasn’t that a Bush-era policy (TARP)?
Obama ‘inherited’ that “smart” decision, did he not?
Good Lt on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Maybe Zero will start writing thngs down on his palms….heh
PatriotRider on February 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM
I’d give Obama a B+ at this point. Independents are just ungovernable.
Johnson on February 8, 2010 at 1:34 PM
And his polls will plummet because nobody has an ounce of confidence in this clown.
BuckeyeSam on February 8, 2010 at 1:34 PM
A little off topic, but has anyone seen any stats on how many TVs were switched to a different channel during the pre-game when the dear leader came on with the perky Couric? Do they even have such stats? I know I switched to the Outdoor Channel until he was off. I know Bush was also interviewed pre Super Bowl, but Bush wasn’t on the TV every other day.
I think the country has had enough of this guy in our homes every day. Enough is enough.
kam582 on February 8, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Heh. I take my coffee the way I take my motorcycles: black and strong.
Bishop on February 8, 2010 at 1:35 PM
The banks should have been allowed to fail. Ditto for GM and Chrysler.
You actually believe the failing of these institutions would have affected you?
This was the culmination of the incestuous relation between Washington And Wall Street.
Too big to fail my ass! Too many people in Washington depend on these institutions for their livelihoods and vice versa.
Us? We can eat cake!!
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:35 PM
When a smart person has tried a plan and sees it failing, failing badly, they usually change their plan. Obama and the donks in congress are doubling down. This also plays into the basic definition of mental insanity. Doing the same action and expecting different results.
As an aside, Obama came within and RCH of going bankrupt until he and Ayers got their first book advance. However, that’s ok because he has almost 8% of his staff from the private sector. What could wrong? The last year.
jukin on February 8, 2010 at 1:37 PM
You’re not alone. I was thinking that same thing this morning, as I yelled at the news on tv. lol He hasn’t abandoned it, dropped it, or conceded defeat. Nor has he done one thing for jobs, other than to once again throw it in the laps of Pelosi, and Reid to handle.
He sits in the oval office practicing is bb shots into his trash can, while everyone else takes the fall for his lack of competence.
capejasmine on February 8, 2010 at 1:37 PM
Nice to see a man find his own true level.
rrpjr on February 8, 2010 at 1:37 PM
BuckeyeSam, true that is. Unfortunately these morans think we are stupid and will believe the myth. It got him elected, after all. November will be interesting.
Philly on February 8, 2010 at 1:37 PM
Palin should consider inking some swipes at Obama and the administration. Call it “Handwipe of the Day.” The media is so obsessed with her. How about “Obama Sux” for starters. Then, “Ream Rahm.” Or “Mirandize Holder.”
BuckeyeSam on February 8, 2010 at 1:38 PM
They’ll never do it, because neither their agenda nor their presentation of it are flawed.
The fault lies only in a public too dumb to ‘get it’, propagandized by a weak and immoral–but powerful and appealing–vast right-wing conspiracy fueled by Big Money.
Liam on February 8, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Cappuccino? Lattes? Is this a foreign language?
donh525 on February 8, 2010 at 1:39 PM
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