The Real State Of The Union,Part 2: What Americans Think

Today is the second in a three part series where we are reviewing the latest opinion polls of Americans in an attempt to get a bearing on what ordinary Americans think about where the country is, where it is going, and whether or not the political leadership has a chance in doing any kind of positive things. Yesterday’s first post in this series can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-real-state-of-union-part-1-what.html

During that review, we reached the following conclusions about where Americans’ heads are:

1. Americans think the economy and the nation are heading in the wrong direction.
2. Americans do not approve of the President’s overall job performance and his performance on most major issues.
3. Americans do not find the President trustworthy, honest, or caring.
4. Americans faith in the economic direction of the country is declining.

Today we will review some other current polls and see if those four conclusions are still valid:

1) A recent Gallup poll from mid January, 2014 found that:

• President Obama’s overall job approval rating is now only 39%.
• His disapproval rating is 53%.
• This is an epic failure since back in February, 2009, the same poll found his approval rating to be about 70% while his disapproval rating was about 10%.

Thus, in five short years, the President has either proved to the country that he has no idea how to positively lead the country or over 40% of the country turned into racists.

2) Another recent Gallup poll, called the “Mood of the Nation,” conducted in mid-January found the following results:

• A plurality Americans, 42%, say they are financially worse off now than they were a year ago. 
• This is a reversal of the trend over the past two years where Gallup found this negative opinion decreasing.
• Only a third or so of the poll’s respondents said their financial situation had improved from a year ago.

3) Consider a different kind of poll that was conducted by YouGov.com, in association with the Times of London:

• The poll was a worldwide survey about public figures and their admiration rate around the world.
• Americans surveyed by the poll said their “most admired” people were Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Pope Francis. 
• Hillary Clinton, who’s highly likely to run for President in 2016, came in a poor 27th.
• She actually trailed actress Angelina Jolie and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Former President George W. Bush, evangelist Billy Graham and pundit Rush Limbaugh, came in higher than Clinton, as well.
• Interestingly, President Obama was favored better in France, than in the U.S.

Given that Clinton will be heavily favored to win the Democratic Party nomination for President and will have well financed, high powered political cronies and backers behind her, it appears that America has a good chance of being stuck with another politician in the White House who is viewed as ineffective, much like where we are today with the current resident in the White House, at least according to this poll. 

4) A Quinnipiac University survey from late last year asked whether or not Americans think that Obama “deliberately mislead” the country about the facts concerning the fatal attack on the U.S, consulate in Benghazi which resulted in the unnecessary deaths of four Americans including the ambassador, Chris Stevens:

• Overall, 52% of the respondents said that the President did indeed mislead the country about the facts concerning the attack.
• Only 37% said he shared the facts.
• While only 17% of Democrats believe Obama misled the country, 80% of Republicans believe he misled and nearly 60% of Independents believe the President lied about Benghazi.

Another leadership opportunity and another leadership opportunity blown, according to the feelings and perceptions of the American public.

5) The latest IBD/TIPP poll from early January found that:

• Obama’s favorability rating in that poll had dipped to 38%.
• This is a full five points plunge from his polling level in November, 2013 of 43%. 
• Among Democrats, he fared even worse, losing 10 points since the November polling. His Presidential Leadership Index is at an all-time low of 42.6%.
• Amazingly, despite overly favorable press coverage from the mainstream media, at 42.6%, Obama’s Leadership Index is lower than President George W. Bush’s rating in the wake of his administration’s poor handling of Hurricane Katrina.
• At one point in his Presidency, Obama’s leadership index was over 70%.
• Regarding the President’s signature legislation, Obama Care, the same survey found that 55% of respondents oppose the legislation, the highest disapproval rate since IBD/TIPP started asking this question in 2010. 
• Only 37% support Obama Care, matching a record low.
• The Obama Care disapproval rate is trending strongly upwards while the approval rate is trending strongly downwards.

It cannot be a good omen for the country when the top leader in the country has a rating below the disgrace that was the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

6) The Associated Press-GfK survey published in January, 2013 found that:

• Sixty three percent of respondents believe the country is heading the wrong way.
• Only 35% said it's heading in the right direction. 
• Forty percent said they were "not very confident" the federal government "will make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014." 
• Another 30% said they're "not at all confident" in the government.
• State governments did only slightly better, with a combined 53% saying they had little or no confidence that state governments will fix things in 2014.
• Forty one percent said that the state of American democracy "needs a lot of changes." 
• A dire 10% said it needs a complete overhaul. 
• Forty-two percent said democracy in the U.S. "works well but needs some changes."
• In the "big government vs. small government" section of the poll, 50% of respondents said less government is better, while 48% said the government should be involved in more things, indicating a serious dichotomy within the country.

These latest poll results indicate that what we learned yesterday are also true today, based on a different set of polls asking the same types of questions:

1. Americans think the economy and the nation are heading in the wrong direction.
2. Americans do not approve of the President’s overall job performance and his performance on most major issues.
3. Americans do not find the President trustworthy, honest, or caring.
4. Americans faith in the economic direction of the country is declining.

And given the shallow, lackluster Obama state of the union message and the lackluster and absence of leadership and creative ideas from the rest of the Washington political class, the situation and these polls results are likely to get worse before they get better. Einstein once said:

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

But if you believe these poll results, Americans are not seeing the different types of thinking and approaches that are needed to resolve our problems. We feel the nation and the economy are heading in the wrong direction, we do not trust this President, and we do not approve of the job that the President and this Congressional set are doing.

Until the current political class heeds Einstein’s advice or are thrown out of office, either by the voting booth, the imepachment process, or criminal courts, we will still have the same problems, addressed by the same ill equipped politicians, with the same lame remedies, and the same negative poll results.

Tired of the same old same old? Consider taking Einstein’s advice and join our drive for term limits at:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

Because, really, how much worse could it get?

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w