Rasmussen Reports show a Presidency in free fall. OK, maybe not free fall, but grasping furiously at twigs and branches to stop the slide down the hill and over the precipice.
On inauguration day, Obama had strong approval of 44% of the electorate and strong disapproval of only 16%--about what you'd expect, yet sixty days later, strong approval is down to 35% and strong disapproval up to 31%. Total approve/disapprove is 55-43% compared to 65-30% at the beginning of his administration. George "Devil" Bush's approval ratings climbed during the same period in his first term.
Barack Obama is a good campaigner but apparently a very bad administrator, so he's going with his strength and flying around the country, showing up on the Tonight Show to rally support for his so-called policies. Will this work?
The polls might yield a clue. Its highly unusual to see such movement in strong approval/disapproval without some event attached to it. The base stays solid as long as your actions reflect policies they approve of. I would imagine that liberals approve heartily of spending money like there is literally no tomorrow. (as long as its not on the Defense Department). So why did Obama lose 9 points in the strong approval category? Why has strong disapproval doubled in the same period?
My guess is that Obama's election shuffle did the job a little too well, allowing a great many people to project their "hopes" onto him. As he was forced to actually govern, the illusion began to dissipate. I suspect he may have another 3-5 points to go before he stabilizes.
The implications for the popularity of his policies is an interesting problem. Most lefties I read actually believe that the country made a genuine left turn and that recent criticism is in fact manufactured dissent that they can dispel with demonstrations of grassroots support. What they are in the process of discovering though is Obama, or rather the idea of Obama is popular, while the policies are bricks. From their perspective, Obama just has to rub off some of his "shine" onto the policies and all will be well.
The reality is that the more Obama tries to sell bricks for balloons, the more he damages his own finish.
I'm willing to wait for the outcome, but I think a lot of Democrats are in for a full-blown encounter with cognitive dissonance.
