A new Gallup poll provides an interesting context to the meeting between President George Bush and President Elect Barack Obama: the Republican has a job disapproval rating of 66 percent while the Democrat has a favorable rating of 70 percent.
These are apples and oranges. And — most assuredly — the still toxic political environment of 21st century America with its nonstop partisanship virtually guarantees Obama won’t maintain a 70 percent approval rating throughout 2009, or perhaps even through March. But, as Gallup notes, it is an interesting contrast:
Monday’s White House meeting between President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama presents a remarkable contrast between one of the least popular two-term presidents in modern times at the close of his administration, and one of the most popular candidates to win the presidency.
According to Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Nov. 6-8, only 27% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president. This contrasts with the 70% of Americans holding a favorable view of Obama.
Gallup adds:
Although this contrast between Obama and Bush is based on different measures — presidential job approval and general favorability — the ratings produced by the two typically track very closely for U.S. presidents, and thus provide a good indication of the vast popularity gap that exists between Bush and Obama.
Additionally, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are confident in Obama’s ability to be a good president, similar to his 70% favorable reading
.
The problem is just as it has now become clear that campaign 2012 began the day after Tuesday’s election for President and campaign 2008, as we’ve noted here its also clear from talk radio (which has a financial interest in whipping up advertising-rich audiences by encouraging divisions) and other indicators that the kind of demonization campaign against Obama that even offended some Republicans continues. Carry over efforts from Campaign 2008 =to define Obama started in some quarters the day after the election’s votes were tallied.
Brendon Nyhan asks whether the presidential campaign has set Obama up to be perceived as an enemy of the state by GOPers, much as when Bill Clinton was elected he was never accepted as President by some. He writes:
The forces in contemporary politics that push us toward hyper-partisan confrontation from day one are very, very strong. Obama may be their next victim.
…..The question is how soon the Republicans and GOP-leaning independents will shift into negative views of Obama, which will largely depend on how soon conservative elites start criticizing him. He does start from a strong position — Gallup notes that the 61% favorable rating was the highest for a presidential candidate in the 1992-2008 period.
Perhaps the massive problems facing the U.S. means problem solving and the idea that Americans are all in this together regardless of party will make a difference this time. (And perhaps these have wings.)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.