Nearly 6 in 10 Lack Confidence in Obama to Make Right Decisions

[AWK]

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say they have "just some" or no confidence in President Obama to make the right decisions for the country, and they give even lower marks to congressional Republicans and Democrats, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted July 7-11.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled put themselves in the "just some" or "none at all" columns as far as their trust in Obama, while 43 percent say they have a great deal or good amount of confidence in him. That's a dip since January, when 53 percent said they had little or no confidence in Obama and 47 percent said they did.

When it comes to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, 73 percent had just some or no confidence in congressional Republicans to make the right decisions for the country and, by a 67 percent to 32 percent margin, the public held the same negative view of Democrats.

Ninety percent of Americans consider the state of the economy as not so good or poor, and they disapprove of Obama's handling of the issue by 54 percent to 43 percent, with 4 percent undecided. Forty-one percent describe themselves as "strongly" disapproving of Obama's performance on the economy. In early June, Americans were split, with 50 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving.

A separate CBS News poll, conducted July 9-12, said 54 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy compared to 45 percent who approved, with the number of independents who approved dropping to 35 percent. Those who approved of Obama's performance dropped five points since last month.

The Post/ABC survey said the public trusts the Democrats more than the Republicans on the economy by 42 percent to 34 percent, with 3 percent trusting both, 17 percent trusting neither and 3 percent undecided. That hasn't changed much since March, but it's a big drop for Democrats compared to February 2008, when the new Congress was getting underway and they were trusted more than Republicans on the economy by a margin of 52 percent to 33 percent.

Looking ahead to the midterm elections, the poll's generic congressional ballot has Republicans ahead of Democrats by 47 percent to 46 percent when it comes to which candidate registered voters would choose. The margin of error is 3.5 points. In early June, Democrats led by 47 percent to 44 percent.

Sixty percent said they were inclined to look around for another candidate, compared to 25 percent who would re-elect their current representative, with 6 percent saying it "depends" on the choices and 9 percent undecided. While the number who say they'd look around was not that much higher than the 56 percent recorded in February, the number who said they'd vote to re-elect their representative dropped 12 points from 37 percent. Some of those appear to have moved into the "undecided" column, which went up from 3 percent in February to 8 percent in the current poll.

Unlike other polls, this one did not show a big enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans about the elections.

Fifty-one percent said they favored Republican candidates to keep a check on Obama's policies, while 43 percent said they backed those who would support his policies.

Fifty-two percent say they want Congress to extend unemployment benefits -- a contentious issue right now between congressional Republicans and Democrats -- while 36 percent oppose doing so because of deficit concerns.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/13/nearly-6-in-10-lack-confidence-in-obama-to-make-right-decisions/?ncid=webmail

I swear to God, why can't we have one President worth a shit?  I don't care from what party they come from, but this is getting tiring and depressing.  I was all for giving O'Bama a chance, since Bush was obviously horrible...but I have yet to see one policy decision that I was ecstatic about.  The Republicans in Congress aren't helping either.  I'm sure you guys will have fun with this article.

[GH2001]

I think we are in agreement here AWK.

Call him a Janitor for all I care, but if he does the job right, upholds our founding documents and does things for the better good of our people, thats all I care about.

I am a big fan of John F. Kennedy(DEM) and Ronald Reagan(GOP) for these very reasons.

And I have equal disdain for members of both sides as well:  Bush(R), Bush(R), Johnson(D), Ford(R), Carter(D), FDR(D), Eisenhower(R) - although Ike wised up near the end of his 2nd term, Wilson(D). 

Nixon is kind of a tricky one. If you go back and read, he was actually a Goldwater/Reagan type Republican in the late 50's and during the 1960 election against JFK. Somewhere between 1960 and 1968, Nixon got bought, went rogue, etc - he basically sold out to the Neo Cons. I think he could have been good had he not been ruined. 

Clinton is also another tricky one. Although I don't like him personally or politically, he had sense enough to listen to Dick Morris and move to the center on policy working with the Contract with America/Newt. His ability to work with the GOP and move to the center ultimately made his presidency a success and most of the country did well under him with the centrist policies in place - no argument there. I just think he gets a little too much credit for the boom. Very smart guy - much smarter than the boob up there now.

[Tarheel]

...
I swear to God, why can't we have one President worth a poop?  I don't care from what party they come from, but this is getting tiring and depressing.  I was all for giving O'Bama a chance, since Bush was obviously horrible...but I have yet to see one policy decision that I was ecstatic about.  The Republicans in Congress aren't helping either.  I'm sure you guys will have fun with this article.

Good article.  Basically showing the confidence in both sides of the aisles of Congress is low (but not as low as confidence in The ONE).

It tells me that the best that we can count on this Fall is a mixed government with part of Congress in Republican control; which is what we will need to stop The ONE and his ill-conceived policy decisions which aren't working.

This politically elite class of people that we keep electing are not the most intelligent amongst us and they certainly do not know what it's like to meet a payroll in the real world...especially this current regime.  It's very discouraging.

[Tarheel]

...
Clinton is also another tricky one. Although I don't like him personally or politically, he had sense enough to listen to tool Morris and move to the center on policy working with the Contract with America/Newt. His ability to work with the GOP and move to the center ultimately made his presidency a success and most of the country did well under him with the centrist policies in place - no argument there. I just think he gets a little too much credit for the boom. Very smart guy - much smarter than the boob up there now.

He did know how to triangulate with a Republican-lead House of Representatives to the end of getting himself re-elected ultimately and allowing him to leave office on a political high-note.  Having to work with a Republican House forced him to temper and even abandon some of his radical plans (Nationalized Healthcare, for example).  The last six years of his administration are a good example of what I call a mixed-government that worked well.

[GH2001]

He did know how to triangulate with a Republican-lead House of Representatives to the end of getting himself re-elected ultimately and allowing him to leave office on a political high-note.  Having to work with a Republican House forced him to temper and even abandon some of his radical plans (Nationalized Healthcare, for example).  The last six years of his administration are a good example of what I call a mixed-government that worked well.

If you believe Dick Morris (and I do), Clinton had no intention of abandoning the left. He then showed him how he was simply going to make an ass of himself trying to fight Newt and the GOP, that it would be better politically to work with them (which he did and it was a success). He also showed him that the leftist policies he tried to push from 92-94 were not working and were not popular (i.e.- Hillary Care), thus affecting his ratings which were not good from 92-94. Around 1994 the Centrist Policies prevailed, the contract with America was formed and by 1996, Clinton already appeared to be a success and cruised easily to a second term. 

This is why I think what the ONE is doing this by design. No one (especially Demos)  could be that DUMB to not try and follow the Clinton blueprint and go center. It was such a success. I think the people in charge now are purposely driving this country into the toliet for their own reasons that I mentioned yesterday.

[Tarheel]

If you believe tool Morris (and I do), Clinton had no intention of abandoning the left. He then showed him how he was simply going to make an ass of himself trying to fight Newt and the GOP, that it would be better politically to work with them (which he did and it was a success). He also showed him that the leftist policies he tried to push from 92-94 were not working and were not popular (i.e.- Hillary Care), thus affecting his ratings which were not good from 92-94. Around 1994 the Centrist Policies prevailed, the contract with America was formed and by 1996, Clinton already appeared to be a success and cruised easily to a second term. 

This is why I think what the ONE is doing this by design. No one (especially Demos)  could be that DUMB to not try and follow the Clinton blueprint and go center. It was such a success. I think the people in charge now are purposely driving this country into the toliet for their own reasons that I mentioned yesterday.

I truly think that they are that Dumb or at least misguided by their ideologies. 

The ONE has a few truly smart guys working for him on the Economic Recovery team (Paul Volcker, Martin Feldstein, Charles Phillips, Jeff Immelt, and James Owens).  These men know how to get the economy going, they know how to run a business.  But The ONE is obviously not listening to them.  He's too indoctrinated in his socialist, liberation 'ideals' and, yes, I'll bring it up again...he might have been born in Hawaii but he's about as American as his Kenyan father.  He has no concept or understanding of American Exceptional-ism.