Republicans are going down the drain into the abyss! There are two very public reasons why they are faltering...
....add to that a new "coup" just announced by the White House!
Firstly, there are two polls out in the past few days, one from Gallup and a new one this morning from CNN:
CNN, shows that President Obama is viewed very positively in the legislative battles over the stimulus bill, while the Republican Party remains the unpopular player in this game
Obama has a 76% overall job approval and 23% disapproval. On the economy specifically, his rating is 72%-28%. Meanwhile, Congress has a very poor rating of 29%-71% -- but it quickly becomes clear that this should be not be simply laid at the feet of the majority Democrats, and is instead the GOP's fault.
The Democratic leadership in Congress has a solid rating of 60%-39%, while the Republican leaders are at 44%-55%. Furthermore, respondents said by 74%-25% that Obama is doing enough to cooperate with Republicans, while they say by a 60%-39% margin that Republicans are not doing enough to cooperate with him.
http://www.cnn.com/...
A new Gallup poll shows that President Obama is continuing to enjoy high approval in handling the economic stimulus debate -- and his brand is solidly beating the Congressional Republicans, too.
The numbers: Obama has a 67% approval and only 25% disapproval on how he's handled the stimulus bill, compared to Congressional Republicans' 31% approval and very high 58% disapproval. Congressional Democrats aren't as popular as Obama himself -- explaining the GOP's efforts to tie the bill to Nancy Pelosi, instead of Obama -- but they're still in the black at 48%-42%.
In addition, a 51% majority of independents say it is critically important to pass a stimulus bill, 27% say it is moderately important, and only 17% say it's not important. The numbers among the Republican base, as we might expect, are wildly different: Only 29% say it is critically important, 37% say it's important but not critically so, and 31% say it's not important.
http://www.gallup.com/...
And then there is this.....The White House has just announced that President Obama will be campaigning for the stimulus plan tomorrow in Fort Myers, Florida -- where he'll be introduced by Republican Governor Charlie Crist.
Remember that Crist...who hit the campaign trail for John McCain last year, and has been courted to run for the open Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez...has now broken ranks in such a conspicuous manner as to publicly appear with Obama.
....and it's not just that, but his official statement praises Obama in language that one would normally use for a political ally: "I am eager to welcome President Obama to the Sunshine State as he continues to work hard to reignite the US economy."
Very nice move by the Obama team. The island for obstructionist Republicans in congress keeps getting smaller and smaller. It will be incredibly hard for Senator Martinez (R-Obstructionist, FL) to actually vote NO on a bill that the most popular politician in Florida, and his probable replacement in the senate supports.
Other obstructionist Republicans may or may not read the writing on the wall....keeping in mind that they're not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
I'm so happy to report that my half-way out the door (but not soon enough) Governator is behind Obama as well, along with 18 other Governors:
http://gov.ca.gov/...