What Do Obama’s Gallup Woes Mean? A Little Perspective…
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Matt Drudge is trumpeting Gallup’s latest rolling presidential polling average today, Save Jerseyans, which shows President Barack Obama’s approval rating dipping to a record low 41%. Ouch.
But so what, right? At the end of the day, he’s not up for reelection and we’re still over one year away from a midterm election.
It’s important to take a historical approach here: at this time in August 2005, President Bush’s approval rating was also is negative territory but slightly better than President Obama’s current rating; 45% of American voters approved of George W. Bush’s job performance.
Does that mean Republicans are destined to make big gains in 2014 as Democrats did in 2006? No, although sitting U.S. Presidents’ parties typically don’t do well in their a second term congressional election cycle. Never underestimate the Republican Party’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
What this latest polling tells us is that Republicans are likely to have an opportunity to flip the Senate and expand their control of the House next fall. Leading prognosticators see things trending in that direction. The folks over at Charlie Cook’s outfit have an interesting analysis of the metrics that they’re watching. Check it out but don’t obsess, Save Jerseyans. This is a chance at an opportunity; nothing more, nothing less. Your hard work and articulate advocacy over the coming months are what’s most important to the success of our cause.
