If President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush were running on the same ballot this year, it's would be a close fight. That's the conclusion of Public Policy Polling, which finds that about as many Americans would prefer to have Bush back in the White House as they would Obama, who has a slim edge.
Jensen notes that Democrats who plan to continue running against Bush as part of their platform probably should rethink that message. As unpopular as Bush was when he went out of office, Republican and conservative voters would prefer him to Obama. That's roughly the same proportion of Democrats who prefer Obama. Among independents, though it's a clearer choice for Obama.
The other day N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney articulated at a party meeting in Orange County how Democrats here will shape their message. While Republicans have high hopes for capitalizing on Obama's unpopularity among conservatives and on Democratic corruption, Hackney says his party will portray Republicans as the party of "No."
Dome quoted Hackney as saying the other day, "If the Republicans won't cut, they won't tax, they won't govern." The speaker said Democrats had weathered a recession and protected education and have a positive story to tell while the Republican story had become one of saying 'no." "Let's take it to the polls and see if 'no, no, no' is what they want," Hackney said.
Read more here.
Meanwhile, here's PPP's analysis of the Obama-Bush story:
Americans are now pretty evenly divided about whether they would rather have Barack Obama or George W. Bush in the White House. 48% prefer Obama while 46% say they would rather have the old President back.
Bush had atrocious approval ratings for his final few years in office, particularly because he lost a lot of support from Republicans and conservative leaning independents. Those folks may not have liked him but they now say they would rather have him back than Obama. 87% of GOP voters now say they would prefer Bush, a number a good deal higher than Bush's approval rating within his party toward the tail end of his Presidency. Democrats predictably go for Obama by an 86/10 margin, and independents lean toward him as well by a 49/37 spread.
These numbers suggest some peril for Democrats in making Bush a focus of their messaging this fall. A lot of folks who contributed to the former President's low level of popularity now like Obama even less. Figuring out a way to make voters change their minds about the current President would be a much more effective strategy for Democrats than continuing to try to score points off the former one.
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/04/obamabush-nearly-divided.html
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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14 comments:
Think about it...
The win for Obama was huge. For a year and a half, every ill that has befallen us has been blamed squarely on Bush by the Obama White House, yet when you look at these numbers, it's much worse for Obama than the little larger spread for Obama Independents.
Bush was vilified relentlessly, about as much as they do Palin, so for the numbers to be that close between the two tells me Obama needs to pack his bags now.
All those numbers tell us is that far too many Americans would rather allow their political views to be shaped by professional propagandists than by actually looking at the facts and reaching logical and sensible conclusions.
By any stretch of the imagination, the W. Bush presidency was a total disaster. From his lying the country into an unnecessary war to the shredding of environmental protections to his appointment of unqualified individuals in sensitive spots (FEMA anyone?) to his gaffs abroad and his lack of intellectual curiosity, he was a man simply unqualified for the job.
Obama on the other hand knows more about constitutional law than any president since Jefferson. By all accounts, his quick action to - yes - bail out the banks, as unpleasant as it was to all of us, to the stimulus bill, he essentially saved the economy and preserved thousands of jobs that would otherwise have been lost.
That's what all the actual ECONOMISTS are saying, but why pay attention to experts? The Republicans and their right-wing talk show surrogates have been waging a fierce campaign to discredit the President since before he even took office. This poll only shows how diabolically successful they've been. For anyone who's actually been paying attention, Obama has done a superb job cleaning up an awful mess. The smart kids in the class know how lucky we are to have someone like him in office after the previous 8 calamitous years of executive branch incompetence.
Can you really compare 8 years of Bush to 1.5 years of Obama. The problem America has is that we want Obama to blink his eyes and perform a miracle with the trash that was left by Bush. Think about everything that was already against Obama when he took office. Its almost as if Obama was voted into office just to fail!
Your not very intelligent, Socialist Mac, and it shows. You are clueless about economics, so I'd advise you to quit spoutign about it.
Mac,
We will disagree about politics, but at least try using facts to back up your assertions.
For instance, TARP was created under the Bush administration.
The stimulus package was passed to keep unemployment below 8%, because if we didn't, we were told it would be above 10%. How did that work out?
Do you really want to discuss appointments? How about offering the Navy to a guy to encourage him not to run against Spector?
Mac, Mac, Mac...
you said this:
--->>>Obama on the other hand knows more about constitutional law than any president since Jefferson. By all accounts, his quick action to - yes - bail out the banks, as unpleasant as it was to all of us, to the stimulus bill, he essentially saved the economy and preserved thousands of jobs that would otherwise have been lost. <<<---
Just because he has a constitutional law degree means nothing. Many believe his calling out SCOTUS for their view on corporate funds for campaigns was incorrect.
Furthermore, I hoped Bush and Obama would have let all the banks and GM to FAIL, declare bankruptcy and let us move on. The country would have survived.
Instead, we have the largest deficit in history that is not all attributed to the Bush administration and the Obama White House has the lowest level of private sector experience since Teddy Roosevelt, 11%!
Obama has lied more than Jon Lovitz in his character on SNL.
History seems to always judge a leadership by how he handles a Catastrophe, such as the one we are in now. This is where Obama & or his Admin.has failed. Way to many mixed signals & our current administration will change course @ a drop of a needle.
Just take a look @ Eric Holder & his current mess w/ the terroist trials, he is heading right back to Bush's blueprint, thats not CHANGE, thats a waiste of time & taxpayers money. So much for the Law Degree.
look at what is on the obama table now
unemployment extension
"financial reform"
cap and tax
illegal alien amnesty
That dude failed everyone including the most wet nosed liberal when he chose to fight for a few tidbits of insurance regulation over securing the economy.
irrecoverable mistake.
obama needs to go. Bad, bad horrible time in American history to have a token experiment as chief of state.
The liberal left will never recover and they know it.
Yeah Bush we miss you yet.
anon 3:09
would do well against "spoutign" off about intelligence.
Liberals, goodness did they all have they same dyslexic teachers or what ?
I love it when a lib says he is "sensible" and "logical" and you are a tool of "professional propagandists." Obama may be a constitutional scholar, but his comments before and after the election demonstrate that he (1) views the Constitution as a blank check where legislation and HIS executive power are concerned and (2) wants the bill of rights construed not as the limitation on government that it is - leaving us free to do what the amendments protect - but as a duty to actively provide people what the Constitution (purportedly) guarantess, such as an abortion (but probably not arms to bear or a place to worship). In short, his view of the Constitution is simply what he and his crowd want it to be on any given matter - its words, Constitutional history, and Article I, section 8, and the 10th Amendment be hanged.
Without Bush and his screwup neocon crooks there would never have been an Obama who has taken spending to a level three times bigger than the other biggest spender in history. Bush the baptist cleared the way for the mutt messiah Bama.
Both SUCK !!
Well,we all know that there are still people out there wishing Bush was still in office. Talk about spending,Bush was left with money in the bank and left the country broke when he left office. So, you take into account the surplus money plus the deficit he left I would say he still out spent Obama. Face it americans the fact of having a diverse president is just to much to stomach. I'm so glad that GOD see no color or race but looks at the heart. If Obama had not taken the actions he's taken we would be worst off. Get ready because Obama will win again.
"As unpopular as Bush was when he went out of office, Republican and conservative voters would prefer him to Obama."
That's a very "astute" piece of analysis. But it's okay Jack, we Democrats, independents and other sensible voters do not. Thank God we have the voting majority!
Yes, those "sensible" voters who cost McCrory and Dole their offices because their pastors told them it was their God-given duty to go to the polls and vote straight Democrat, huh?
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