It’s difficult to understand why any Republicans on Capitol Hill would like their odds in any kind of budget showdown this fall that could result in a government shutdown. Very simply, they would be going into a game with an incredibly weak hand, and their odds of winning would be […] Read more »
Summer Months Unkind to Obama
President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has shown a pattern of decline over the course of the summer months during his presidency. From June through August, his approval rating shows a noticeable dip each month, resulting in an average approval rating below 46% in August, the worst he has averaged […] Read more »
For Their Agendas to Fly, Lame Ducks Need to Run
… Second-term presidents are much more on their own. They need to transform their re-election campaigns into effective, sustained advocacy operations if they want to rack up more than just foreign policy wins during their final years in office. So what does a successful lame duck organization look like? I […] Read more »
Barack Obama’s lost youth
… Obama’s overall approval was 50.8% per Gallup in the month before election, but it has decreased by 5.1pt, to 45.7%, since July. The decline, it turns out, can mostly be ascribed to younger voters. … But why are young Americans rejecting Obama? I can think of possible sources. First, […] Read more »
Second-Term Blues
Back in 2007, John Fortier and I did a book called Second-Term Blues on how George W. Bush had governed after his reelection. John and I started with an essay on the usual characteristics of second-term presidencies, and measured Bush against them. This is a good time to do the […] Read more »
Obama’s Economic Approval Slips to 35%
Despite President Barack Obama’s renewed focus on the nation’s economy this summer, crisscrossing the country to talk about job creation, he scores worse with Americans on the economy than he did in June. His approval rating on the issue, now 35%, is down seven percentage points, and his ratings on […] Read more »