Brown still wins the Massachusetts popularity contest
Senator Scott Brown is still a popular guy in Massachusetts, polling a favorability/unfavorability rating of 55/18, according to a Boston Globe poll.
Far more surprisingly, Barack Obama is behind Brown with ratings of 54/42. Note that high “unfavorable” number; this is Massachusetts, remember. Of course, quite a few of those 42% might be those who think Obama isn’t far enough to the left (unfortunately, the poll didn’t ask that question, which would have been a valuable one).
Brown has disappointed those who wanted him to be a strict conservative, but those who know him and listened to his campaign, and who understand the political realities of Massachusetts, think he’s done just about what could have been expected—which is to vote the Republican line 84% of the time.
I’ll take it over the alternatives.
[NOTE: When I first saw the article’s headline, “Brown outpolls Kerry, Obama,” I somehow thought it was Jerry Brown, and I was suitably shocked.]
An interesting take on Obama’s popularity from Power Line. 2013 seems a LONG way off…
President Obama’s approval ratings have declined steadily since he took office. Among likely voters, those who disapprove of his performance consistently outnumber those who approve by eight points or so. The margin between those who strongly disapprove and those who strongly approve is even greater.
I suspect, however, that those numbers actually overstate the popularity of the Obama administration. Many voters are reluctant to give up on a president they voted for, and, knowing that we are stuck with Obama until 2013, some prefer not to admit how poorly they think our president is doing. Further, Obama continues to enjoy a near-unanimous approval among African-Americans that probably reflects understandable loyalty as much as real satisfaction with the administration’s policies.
Another way to assess how the Obama administration is doing with the American people is to follow the approval ratings of other members of the administration. For example, this Rasmussen survey finds that just 32 percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of both Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano. Forty-two percent view Holder unfavorably, while 47 percent express an unfavorable opinion of Napolitano. Since these two cabinet members oversee key areas of administration policy, this may be a more accurate gauge of what voters think of the Obama administration than the President’s own approval ratings.
If that is true, the administration is in serious trouble with the American public. While many Americans–a minority, to be sure–still feel obliged to say that they support our president, a much larger number are deeply disappointed in the policies he and his administration have pursued.
That’s good news.
Perhaps the most horrible thing: Obama is a fraud to and for black people. How long will white people have to leave it unsaid in the company of black people.
Are we a nation of cowards with regards to race. If so, I think it in a direction Eric Holder did not intend.