Obama's 47 Percent Approval Lowest of Any President at This Point

[Admiral Yi]

It would be interesting to know how much of the disapproval is coming from the left.

[Faeelin]

2.  Obama decided to send more troops to Afghanistan.  This also pushed a lot of the members of the looney left off the Obama band wagon, including people of the Michael Moore cut.

Has anyone who matters seriously been outraged over this?

[Admiral Yi]

Has anyone who matters seriously been outraged over this?

Do you mean anyone who has a vote, or some other criteria?

[Neil]

2.  Obama decided to send more troops to Afghanistan.  This also pushed a lot of the members of the looney left off the Obama band wagon, including people of the Michael Moore cut.

Has anyone who matters seriously been outraged over this?

Has anyone who matters ever been outraged by anything Obama has done?  Or not done?

[Sophie Scholl]

Is this really that surprising?  I mean, roughly 50% of the country is Republican as shown by the last several elections.  There goes 50% of the potential support he could get, as it's doubtful many Republicans would say he's doing a good job or that they approve of his efforts.  Throw in the fringe left who are pissed over the Afghan troop increase and the Health Care conclusion, and I'd say it's pretty good he's polling at 47%.  Also, it's not really a surpise the way the article is worded when you notice the source is Foxnews.com.

[grumbler]

What a bizarre statement. Nixon was reelected in a landslide. It's like Sammon expects his readers to be expecting Watergate to affect those numbers.

What a bizarre statement. Nixon was reelected in a landslide, but long after the equivalent date. Watergate occurred 30+ months after the ten-and-a-half month point in the Nixon administration.  It is like Peter Wiggin expects the readers of his posts to not remember when Watergate occurred. 

[grumbler]

Frankly, I am unsurprised by these numbers.  What remains to be seen is whether Obama can learn from them.  I have to admit that I am, and always have been, dubious about his qualifications, but have always been impressed by his smarts.  It is entirely possible that he could still have a successful presidency.  Odds are against him, of course.  No one has recovered from this kind of start before, except FDR.

[OttoVonBismarck]

As for Republicans outnumbering Democrats, I don't know what the numbers are but even at its best I believe the GOP has always had a 10% disadvantage vs. the Democrats.

Republican administrations happen and Republican Congresses happen because many people sign their party registration when they are young, and they sign whatever their parents are--it isn't always a reflection of their beliefs.  Some people also may be registered GOP or Democrat but typically vote all over the place depending on who is running and the issues at hand.

The trend in recent years certainly hasn't been more GOP registrations at the expense of the Dems, it is more people who are registering as independents.  A big part of it also is more and more states are letting independents vote in party primaries.  In some states in the past you could not vote in any party primary if you were an independent.  In those states politically interested people who weren't necessarily strongly in favor of the Dems or the GOP would register as one or the other just so they could vote in the primaries.  (Some states are still like this.)

[Admiral Yi]

Is this really that surprising?  I mean, roughly 50% of the country is Republican as shown by the last several elections.  There goes 50% of the potential support he could get, as it's doubtful many Republicans would say he's doing a good job or that they approve of his efforts.

Yet we find historically that a president getting above 50% approval is the rule and not the exception.

[Faeelin]

Is this really that surprising?  I mean, roughly 50% of the country is Republican as shown by the last several elections.  There goes 50% of the potential support he could get, as it's doubtful many Republicans would say he's doing a good job or that they approve of his efforts.

Yet we find historically that a president getting above 50% approval is the rule and not the exception.

Historically we also don't need 60 votes to get legislation throuhgh the Senate. America certainly seems more polarized than i t once was, and if you dig deeper into these polls Obama's approval ratings are really, really awful among Republicans.

[Fate]

Obama is historically speaking a really, really awful President. 

[Admiral Yi]

Historically we also don't need 60 votes to get legislation throuhgh the Senate. America certainly seems more polarized than i t once was, and if you dig deeper into these polls Obama's approval ratings are really, really awful among Republicans.

I've been saying the same thing for ever.  American politics has been trapped in a revenge cycle since Clinton.

[Faeelin]

Historically we also don't need 60 votes to get legislation throuhgh the Senate. America certainly seems more polarized than i t once was, and if you dig deeper into these polls Obama's approval ratings are really, really awful among Republicans.

I've been saying the same thing for ever.  American politics has been trapped in a revenge cycle since Clinton.

I'LL KILL YOU.

I mean, ya.

[jimmy olsen]

Is this really that surprising?  I mean, roughly 50% of the country is Republican as shown by the last several elections.  There goes 50% of the potential support he could get, as it's doubtful many Republicans would say he's doing a good job or that they approve of his efforts.

Yet we find historically that a president getting above 50% approval is the rule and not the exception.

I agree, unless there's an attack on the country to rally people around, even a good popular president will find it hard to break 60% these days.

[Neil]

Historically we also don't need 60 votes to get legislation throuhgh the Senate. America certainly seems more polarized than i t once was, and if you dig deeper into these polls Obama's approval ratings are really, really awful among Republicans.

I've been saying the same thing for ever.  American politics has been trapped in a revenge cycle since Clinton.

More like since the '72 election.  It's just gotten worse lately.