[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
Obama Wars Title: Democrats fates will hinge on Obama's handling of spill Democrats fates will hinge on Obama's handling of spill By: Julie Mason Examiner White House Correspondent June 18, 2010 Democrats had planned to campaign this fall on health care reform, but President Obama's deep pivot to the BP oil spill changes both the equation and focus of midterm campaigning. Whether the shift helps or hurts Democrats is unclear. Health care has not been a solid political asset for Democrats, and it remains to be seen whether perceptions about Obama's management of the spill will turn a corner and give him an advantage. "Health care was never going to work quickly enough to be a lead issue for Democrats," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. "What they hoped to do was substitute it later on with economic recovery." But with the recovery coming together slowly, BP may ultimately serve as a boon for Obama, by giving Democrats some corporate malfeasance to "bang on" until the jobs and other numbers improve, Jillson said. Still, negative perceptions about Obama's handling of the spill remain. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll taken after Obama's national address Tuesday found 59 percent disapprove of his handling of the spill, up 8 percentage points from May. Just 41 percent said they approve of his spill response. At the same time, the poll found Obama's overall job approval rating holding steady at 50 percent -- the same level it's been at since the spill began. "The president and the Democrats have no choice but to make the campaign primarily about the oil spill," said Clark Ervin, an Aspen Institute political expert who has worked for both Obama and former President George W. Bush. The BP disaster has dominated the news and consumed much of the oxygen at the White House in recent weeks, following the April 20 fire and explosion that sunk the Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of Louisiana. "They've got to demonstrate that they're responding on all fronts as aggressively as possible, and to assure the public that they're putting in places measures to make sure something like this never happens again," Ervin said. "Absent a plug and huge progress on cleanup between now and November, this issue will continue to swamp all the others." The White House this week has been working to improve public attitudes about Obama's handling of the spill, with an Oval Office address, a fourth trip to the Gulf Coast and a commitment from BP to establish a $20 billion fund to compensate victims. Turning the disaster into a positive for Obama and the Democrats could prove essential to their prospects in November. A recent NPR poll of 70 contested House districts found voters favoring Republicans by 49 percent to 41 percent for Democrats. The sample included 60 seats held by Democrats and 10 represented by Republicans. In the Democratic districts, Obama's approval rating was 40 percent, according to the poll. The so-called generic ballot polling in the current cycle has largely favored Democrats. The NPR poll measured a shift that pollsters attributed in part to Republican voters being more energized than Democrats this year Read more at the Washington Examiner: www.washingtonexaminer.co...605469.html#ixzz0rDoIFwpf
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Badeye (#0)
From the way republicans are behaving, all the dems have to do is keep their mouths shut...
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|