Check these numbers out from CNN's latest national survey (1,014 adults, Nov. 11-14, MoE +/- 3%):
(1) Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president?
(2) (IF DISAPPROVE) Do you disapprove because you think his policies and actions since he became president have been too liberal, or because you think his policies and actions have not been liberal enough?
Approve: 48%
Disapprove, too liberal: 38%
Disapprove, not liberal enough: 9%
Disapprove, unsure: 3%
The top-line numbers show that Obama's approval rating is at 48% approve, 50% disapprove. But beyond the top-lines lurks an important part of the story.
Yes, most people who disapprove of President Obama's performance think he's too liberal. But a substantial share of his criticism is coming from the left: one-fifth of those who disapprove of President Obama don't think he's liberal enough.
For the most part, mainstream political discourse treats those who disapprove of President Obama as being monolithic in their attitudes, but these numbers put the lie to that conventional analysis. In fact, there's a much more complex story going on here and suggesting that there is a 48/50 split in public attitudes is simply incorrect.
Instead, what you have is a situation where 9% disapprove of Obama because he isn't liberal enough, 48% approve, and 38% disapprove because he's too liberal. That means less than four in ten adults think President Obama is too liberal. And purely on a political level, unless there's some magical way to win over some of those in the "too liberal" camp without pushing others into the "not liberal enough" camp, it's far from obvious that President Obama's re-election strategy should involve moving to the right.