Marist Poll: Obama Losing Independent Voter Support
A new Marist poll indicates President Barack Obama is starting to lose independent voter support.
It has some good news for Obama: his overall approval rating numbers ( 55 percent of registered voters) has remain largely unchanged. And he continues to have solid support (90 percent) from Democrats.
But as President George Bush’s two terms in office indicated, a President is not in a strong position if he risks becoming a President of his party’s base. Obama isn’t there yet but it’s clear that he’s now facing some erosion among independent voters — who have never been a monolithic group to begin with and, some say, have had many defected Republicans in their ranks in the past few years:
55% of U.S. registered voters approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing in office while 35% say they disapprove. The president has held his own in the court of public opinion during the last few months. In The Marist Poll’s June survey, the president received a similar job approval rating — 56%. These proportions are consistent with those Mr. Obama received in April. In Marist’s April 27th and April 8th surveys, the president received kudos from 55% and 56% of voters, respectively.
But, is President Obama on a slippery slope with Independent voters? Currently, 47% of Independents nationwide say they approve of the job the president is doing while 37% disapprove. This is the first time Obama has lost a majority of Independents since taking office. In June, 51% believed Obama was meeting their standards, and in Marist’s April 27th and April 8th surveys, 54% and 53%, respectively, thought this way.
There is also movement in the GOP camp. Although a similar proportion of Republicans — 20% — currently approve of the president’s job performance compared with those in June — 23% — more members of the GOP disapprove of Mr. Obama now. 71% today say they are not pleased with the way the president is running the country. 61% shared this view in June.
Looking at the president’s own party, it’s not surprising that most Democrats — 90% — report that President Obama’s job performance is meeting their standards. This proportion is little changed from Marist’s previous survey.
It was to be expected that Obama would lose GOP support, the more he took positions at odds with Republicans (talk radio will always be at odds with him and were at odds with him before he was even sworn into office). But the erosion in independents is another matter. It could be sugar-coated by saying that since a chunk of independents were GOPers upset over the Bush administration but, then, many independent voters had belonged to a party at some time or another.
A President needs the support of a good chunk of independent voters to have clout and most elections show that a party can’t only win with its own voters, but must peel off enough of the independents. One question is now: will what independent voters see in the Town Hall meetings via TV and You Tube tilt them one way or another?
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Support for the Dems has been gradually eroding among nearly all (all but the low tail of the bell curve) as the Dems have been gradually misbehaving more and more; the health care is the worst overreach and the worst misconduct to date, and it's not surprising that the Dems' numbers are lower than ever this year.
Obama's fall and the rest of the Dems' fall is hardly New News.
http://people-press.org/report/532/obamas-ratin…
Again, this type of decline always happens…it isn't new. Poll numbers always go down after the first months of a Presidency.
I don't know. Again polls can be manipulated. I always give this example of how a pollster can, if so inclined, manipulate polls without seeming to. You do the equivalent of going to a bar to poll “citizens” of a given town on their views on penalties for drunk driving…say… or go to a warf to poll “citizens” of a given town on their views limiting commercial fishing. And so on. Where you place your pollsters has a direct effect on the results and you can still call the polling process “diversified” since in any given bar, warf, etc. there will be people of all ages, creeds and both genders.
So yeah, the poll thing. Weak at its strongest in reflecting ever-shifting reality of people's mindsets.
The idea of independent candidates is making a resurgence across the country. An independent candidate is considered more and more these days as a bridge-builder past party issues. They get the job done. Take the example of Trevor Drown from Arkansas, His recent announcement for US Senate has garnered an overwhelming level of support from many Arkansans, not only because of his stance on issues but also the lack of confidence in the Democratic party and the level of incompetence of the Republican party. This upcoming election will find many independents in office.
It seems we always have the choice of voting for the lesser of two evils. I am tired of it. I am looking for someone that cares and it looks I may have found him. I have not met him yet, but I have talked to some people that have. Trevor Drown, the former Green Beret from Russellville is a honest hardworking Arkansan, that has conservative values, is a leader and bridge-builder. He is not supported by either party and is not funded by all the special interest groups. But I will tell you from what I have seen on his website and what I heard from people in the Russellville area, I am impressed. He has my support and he will get my vote. Many of us don't know it but we have a gem in Arkansas that will be a great leader in the US Senate and his name is Trevor Drown.
I cite the example of my own state, Arkansas. The state GOP has not provided a serious candidate for US Senate. They are all mixed up in issues that don’t make sense and focused on battling the Democrats. They are very uptight at the young upstart Trevor Drown, who is gaining a lot of attention out in the rural areas among the people. He is running as an independent and the right wing is accusing him of splitting the party. Well the State GOP gave up their right to represent the conservative voice, when they failed to provide a candidate against Senator Pryor and three Democratic members of Congress. Not one Republican ran against them. The same thing happens at the state level. There are some seats where a Democrat have run opposed for 20 plus years. This year no one has stepped up to take on the Governor. The State GOP is in jeopardy of losing their right to be on the ballot in 2012. Everyone will have to get signatures. I like Trevor, I have heard him speak, he is an Afghan War Vet and he is a down to earth guy. He has a family values, goes to church and he listens to what people have to say. He has a leadership philosophy of daring to make a difference and he could care less about special interest groups or party politics. He wants to solve problems, build bridges and do what is right for the people of Arkansas. As an senior worried about the Federal government and what the current administration is planning, I will tell you I and many of my friends will be getting the 10,000 signatures it will take to get him on the ballot and then voting for him in the next election.
NO! Polls ONLY PLUMMET because the unAmerican is an IDIOT RADICAL LIAR!
Independent voters are going to take over the government. They now outnumber Democrats for the first time since the election of 1800. The remaining obstacle is ballot access. In most states where there are large numbers of independent voters, party politicians have passed ballot access laws that prohibit independent candidacy. Four example, here in Arizona an independent voter is required to get more than 20,000 signatures to get on the ballot for statewide office, while a Republican or Democrat is only required to get about 4,000 for the same office. Party appointed federal judges have consistently upheld requirements like these as being Constitutional, so what will have to be done is to elect independent candidates with un-Constitutional laws and then get them changed. There are enough independent voters to do this now.