Mitt Romney is still making the rounds, appearing Thursday night on Fox where
he offered up his assessment of how Americans feel about President Obama:
"Do you believe the American people should trust this president?" [Fox News host Megyn Kelly] asked.
"Well, I think they've lost the confidence they had in him," Romney replied.
Okay, I'm going to bend over backwards here and give Mitt a tiny bit of credit. President Obama's job approval average is
a little underwater right now. Then again, it's nowhere near as bad as
GOP congressional approval. It's also better than
George W. Bush's approval at this point in his presidency. And it's actually better than it was in the late 2011, right as the GOP 2012 primary was heating up.
So while President Obama's approval isn't at it's high-water mark, it's also not at it's low-water mark either—so I don't think Mitt's "analysis" hold's water. But I also think he really wasn't even trying to make a point about President Obama as much as he was trying to convince people that if only the election had taken place a year later, he would have won it. The only problem with that theory is that when you look back at the trend lines, the one thing that becomes clear is that when President Obama stands his ground against Republicans, his approval rating goes up.
Without Mitt Romney to kick around, the president's numbers might be a little off. But there's nothing like a vocal Republican to remind people why they'd rather have a Democrat in charge.