Obama's Ratings Shrinking and Firming

By C. Edmund Wright

Normally it's a good thing when a politician's poll numbers are firming up. Not so much when those numbers are both shrinking and firming at the same time however. For President Obama, such is the case according to Rasmussen's polling. Moreover, the anti-Obama numbers continue to firm and expand. This follows logic as people continue to do what McCain could not do in the campaign -- which is to tie the popular Obama to policies and positions that are very extreme and unpopular.

Today's report:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 (see trends). [....]

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s down a point from yesterday and the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. See recent demographic highlights from the tracking polls.

In addition to our daily tracking, Rasmussen Reports has released a month-by-month review of the President’s Approval ratings. This allows a longer-term look at trends. In August, President Obama’s full-month ratings fell below 50% for the first time.

While it is too early to tell, there appears to be a trend forming where those who somewhat approve of Obama are peeling off into either the strongly approve or somewhat disapprove camps. This should trouble the politicos inside the administration, as trends also indicate that people in the somewhat disapprove category are moving steadily to the strongly disapprove category. In eight months, nearly 40% of the electorate has gravitated from strongly approve to strongly disapprove. That is staggering and merely reflects people understanding that this "clean articulate black guy" actually does believe in the precepts of Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, etc. Those positions were never popular with Americans.

Another interesting number is this: I think we can make an educated guess that the 29% who have confidence in Congress's handling of the economy are coincident with the 30% that strongly approve of Obama. My guess -- and I've been studying polling and focus groups since the 1980's -- is that 30 per cent is more or less the hard core leftist base plus the hard core African American support base. You know, the groups that think Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuber was a good thing. (We say Cuber this week in honor of the Kennedys).

Twenty-nine percent (29%) are confident that Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. If Americans could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 57% would throw out all the legislators and start over again. Just 25% would vote to keep the Congress.