If you listen to the wingnuts (for your own good, I hope you don't), you'd be led to believe that not only is Obama "destroying the country", but that people are starting turn on him. Almost every day I see a comment stating that Obama is "losing support every day" and "even Democrats are beginning to regret voting for Obama", yet they never provide any evidence to support their claims. Todays new Fox news poll isn't helping their case.
FOX News / Opinion Dynamics - 6/9-10/2009 (5/12-13/2009 in parenthesis):
Approve: 62 (60)
Disapprove: 31 (30)
Change: +2 Approve, +1 Disapprove = +1 swing
Among Republicans (5/12-13/2009 in parenthesis):
Approve: 28 (23)
Disapprove: 62 (63)
Change: +5 Favorable, -1 Disapprove = +6 swing
Among Independents (5/12-13/2009 in parenthesis):
Approve: 66 (57)
Disapprove: 26 (30)
Change: +9 Favorable, -4 Disapprove = +13 swing
Obama's job approval stands at 62% in the Fox news poll, which is 2 points higher than it was in Fox's poll last month.
Obama's approval has swung by 13 points among independents, and has even swung by 6 points among Republicans. This flies in the face of what we've been hearing from the wingnuts.
The Republicans went on a full-court press this week over the stimulus. They thought they smelled blood in the water when the jobs report showed that we had lost well over a million jobs this year in spite of the stimulus package(they conveniently omitted the fact that the number of jobs lost and the number of new unemployment claims are at the lowest point since the crisis manifested itself in September), and were ready to declare it and Obama a failure. The Fox poll shows that the public isn't buying it.
Since last fall, the federal government has spent hundreds of billions of
dollars to stabilize the nation's economy. Which of the following statements do
you think best describes the actions the government has taken?
Govt. actions working failing (Too soon to tell) (Don’t know)
9-10 Jun 09 46% 39 12 3
Democrats 67% 19 12 2
Republicans 23% 62 11 3
Independents 44% 38 12 5
3-4 Mar 09 38% 44 14 4
As the numbers show, the perception that the stimulus is working has increased in the last 2 months, from -6 points (38/44) to +7 (46/39), or a 13 point swing, which is a complete reversal. It's important to note that this survey was concluded yesterday, after the Republican assault on Obama's stimulus had been going on for 2 days.
I can understand why the right is so frustrated lately, if they can't even be validated by a Fox news poll, then that pretty much leaves them out in the cold, which is pretty much what they deserve considering where their ideology has led us in the last 8 years.
Fox did throw them a bone though. The public dissapproves of the GM restructuring 58/38, so of course the headline for this poll was:
FOX News Poll: Americans Disapprove of GM Takeover