Something interesting is going on. Jennifer this morning reported that Obama had reached a new low in the Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll yesterday, at -16. The latest results, released a couple of hours ago, show the president at -19 a mere 24 hours later.
Not surprisingly, Obama’s popularity began declining right after Inauguration Day, as the messy reality of actually governing replaced the warm glow of rhetoric. He was at +28 on January 21st but down to +10 a month later. He slipped into negative territory in June, when he was at -2 on June 21st. By November 21st, he was at -13.
But the last week was been brutal: -11 last Monday, -10 on Tuesday, -11 on Wednesday, -12 on Thursday and Friday, -16 on Saturday, -19 today.
Perhaps even worse for Obama has been the sharp decline in the number of those who strongly approve. That number dropped by 4 percentage points this week, from 27 percent to 23 percent, while the strongly disapproving increased an equal amount.
And the decline is across the board:
Just 41% of Democrats Strongly Approve while 69% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 21% Strongly Approve and 49% Strongly Disapprove.
Polls, like markets, fluctuate on a daily basis. One day’s or even one week’s change doesn’t amount to much. But the chart below sure looks like a political bear market to me. And in politics, that translates into a loss of power to persuade other politicians to go along. With public approval of the Senate Health Care bill at an all-time low (-32 in the latest CNN poll), it seems as though it will be increasingly difficult for the president to persuade all 60 Democrats and Independents in the Senate to walk that particular plank.
My guess is that if just one of the needed 60 senators were to announce that he or she would not vote for cloture this month, regardless of what Harry Reid comes up with in the next few days, (“I’m in favor of health-care reform, but we need to consider this more carefully” — translation: I like my job and want to keep it) others would quickly follow. That would push it into 2010 and, almost surely, into a richly deserved political oblivion.
we can prepare for the worst only if it adds to and does not decrease from our competitiveness.
One thing we have that they don’t have is liberty.
Now would be as good a time as any to repeal some laws and extraneous govt agencies a la goldwater “conscience of a conservative”. income tax? outski
really, it’s our best card to play. china and the russians will be kciking our butts fairly soon in various arenas, but it will be a long long time, perhaps never, when they can compete with us in that one.
“china and the russians will be kciking our butts fairly soon in various arenas”
I keep hearing about this, but nobody ever seems to provide any actual examples of the incoming butt-kicking…
Mr. Chang has for the first time in my memory admitted that there are limits to the US’s ability to control events.
It is true that China could lurch into nationalism, civil conflict, or both, arising out of the uneven distribution of the fruits of industrialization, the catastrophic effects of international economic fluctuations, or one environmental disaster or another. When it comes to Chinese history in the last 200 years, it is predictable that the undpredictable will happen.
However, preparing for the worst in the wrong way can still help bring the worst about. I would hope that the “preparing for the worst” that Mr. C has in mind consists in more than a military buildup and saber-rattling. As alien as subtlety may be to our national character, it is a useful trait in international affairs.
You may not have noticed but some countries & leaders are dealing with this quite effectively. For instance the Australian Prime Minister spoke to the congregated leadership in the People’s Hall about their shared modern history interdependent trade & the divergent values such as human rights. He spoke of Tibet & told them they must get an internationally accepted solution .He also addressed Beijing University where he was given a better reception than Columbia gave the ranian Prime Minister.
It was effective because he came to them & he spoke frankly & he spoke in excellent Mandarin..
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ECM- our growth is stagnating, theirs is rising. the eurozone now has a bigger economy than ours and the dollar is becoming increasingly unpopular due to it’s volitility. china is certainly kicking our butt in manufacturing for one.
and our debt far far outscales anyones on earth. many trillions of dollars in the hole.
Mo Lester,
growth rates are meaningless. Only capability matters. When you come from the bottom, growth rates are large, but they do not equate to size. America’s economy and capabilities dwarf those of China. China excels in manufacturing worthless crap that nobody needs.
The “eurozone” does not have a greater GDP than America, despite the fact that it consists of multiple countries.
Currency trading rises and falls along with currency values.
America’s “debt” hasn’t prevented it from maintaining its premiere position in the world.
You have an ulterior motive for arguing against the suggestion that America prepare for Chinese perfidy.
c’mon, US has japan as “friend” already, we don’t need a second japan who can bow anytime to US’s demand on whatever issue. why does washington want china to be like japan? well, when difficult moment comes, japan will forcefully say NO to US, while china might not. it is what chinese think friends are, though it sounds stupid. take a look at the china’s stand during asia currency crisis.
tony zhao,
Japan is a stabilizing force in its region and the whole world. It is a free country. China is the exact opposite.
It always amazes me to see people with Chinese heritage making a living by writing anti-china pieces using catch phrases that attracts people who hates China. Fortunately, China has been spitting on the faces of these people by growing stronger and gettng better in managing our own internal affairs. Mr. Chang with his fellow China haters can only get satisfaction by saying “China produced low quality products that nobody wants”. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing. We Chinese want to be friends with anyone who treats us fair. For anyone who wants to come to kill us to eliminate “threat” to their global dominance, just bring it on. We are ready for you and you won’t be able to walk away from your war with China without getting burned from head to toe!
rininger,
china is also a stablizing force in far east and the whole wold. so what?
china has to live on its own, otherwise it is not worthy to stay on this planet if in one day it becomes a 2nd japan. china might be the only place where the last hope of no westernization could strike on. i hope it can find a better alternative to 500 years of westernization. over the last 200 years, west failed miserably brought people across the world out of poverty through wars and fights, china did it on vast majority of 1.3 B. yes, it depended on the west technology, but why can’t the west do this? they have money and super technology and control of the most of world.
saying this is not a xenophobia.