Note: this is an update to a blog written 36 hours earlier with the latest Obama approval #s added in:
Rasmussen Polls Highlight Big Opposition
to Obama Agenda on Several Fronts
If socialism and big government are the desired ends, Americans are not buying it according to the Rasmussen Reports polling service.
Item: The public appreciation of this president has plummeted recently. His latest approval sank to its lowest level (-20) today, Tuesday May 25, 2010, when the highly accurate Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows President Obama’s favorability rating stands at -20 with only 24% of voters highly approving of the job he’s doing and 44% highly disapproving. Overall 42% at least somewhat approve of the President’s work while 56% disapprove. The negative fourteen (-14) point overall differential and the 42% overall approval numbers are both record lows for Obama on Rasmussen's daily tracking.
Item: 68% of Americans are against boycotts of Arizona over their new Immigration law. While Obama and the federal government are permitted 17 specific powers, 55% of voters would like a law like Arizona’s in their own state because they don’t believe the federal government is protecting our borders.
Item: when it comes to terrorism, 52% of voters say we are NOT safer today than we were on September 10, 2001 just before the 9/11 attacks.
As the rest of the poll data shows, it seems that in the voters’ eyes Mr. Obama is NOT doing what the federal government is supposed to do and doing everything else instead. It also appears that Americans do NOT want to be ruled from the left . . . or the right or the center, but want to rule themselves:
Item: 72% do not believe Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. Along those lines, 41% expressed agreement with the statement that "a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than Congress."
Item: It appears Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We’ll just have to pass it so people can see what’s in it (and you’ll love it)” in reference to the Obamacare health measures. 63% of American voters now favor repealing the bill. As a move toward socialism, roughly 390 separate government agencies are created by Obamacare – just one law. In contrast only 40 separate federal agencies were created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in just over twelve years in office. Obama has been in office fifteen months.
Item: 65% of all Americans and a surprising 51% of Democrats now espouse “mainstream”^^ views up from 62% in March and 55% in September. Only 4% now support the “political class” (those numbers are staying steady at the lowest such reading in Rasmussen polling history). When “leaners” are included 81% align with the mainstream and 12% trend toward the political class.
Item: 67% of mainstream America consider Obamacare “bad for America” while 77% of the political class believe Obamacare is “good for America.”
Item: 76% of Americans say they trust the voters more than they do the politicians and 71% see the federal government as a”special interest group” looking out mainly for its own welfare. 70% believe that the government and big business generally work together for their own benefit against the interests of the people.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^The three questions used to calculate the Political Class Index are:
-- Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?
-- Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?
-- Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?
To create the "Mainstream-Political Class scale, each response earns a plus 1 for the mainstream answer, a minus 1 for the political class answer, and a 0 for not sure.
Those who score 2 or higher are considered part of the Mainstream. Those who score -2 or lower are considered to be aligned with the Political Class. Those who score +1 or -1 are considered leaners in one direction or the other.
In practical terms, if someone is classified with the Mainstream, they agree with the mainstream view on at least two of the three questions and don’t agree with the Political Class on any.
