Poll: Support For Stimulus Package Drops
Here’s one reason that the Obama team may be ratcheting up efforts to sell its stimulus package, which Obama did with a new YouTube blasted out this morning to his email list, as well as some newly aggressive comments today:
They may be worried that support for the stim package is dropping.
A number of you have said you place little stock in Rasmussen Reports polling. So take this for what it is. But a new Rasmussen poll finds that support for the stim package has dropped among national voters to 37%, from 42% last week, and 45% the week before that.
Opposition, the poll finds, has grown to 43%, from 39% last week, and 34% the week before that.
Support for the plan among Dems has dropped 10 points, to 64%. And only 27% of unaffiliated voters back it.
Nate Silver has a long post arguing that overall, the polling shows that support for the plan hasn’t dropped appreciably. He may be right, and again, take the Ras poll for what it is.
Still, I think it’s clear that the Obama team is working more aggressively now to rally support then they had been as recently as two days ago. So maybe they sense eroding support, too.
Just look back at every one of the posts you have done recently based on polling numbers on an issue that looks bad for Obama and I would just about guarantee you that you will find it was a Rasmussen poll that prompted your post
well, there were bad Gallup numbers yesterday, too, remember!
Hey all. Check out this interactive map on USATODAY showing the impact this package would have.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-02-03-stimulus_N.htm
I wonder if there is once again an assumption by dems and bloggers and the media that unless a push in advocating for the plan looks exactly as they think it should look that they are not recognizing it? I don’t meant to rant and be off topic here but a lot of what I have seen today reminds me of the transition from the primaries to the general and then the lull of summer to the heat of the campaign in the fall. Lots of people on tv and the web scraeming that Obama had no fight in him, that they were doing everything wrong. etc. For example this post at TPM by Skocpol
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/our_highest_priority.php
reminds me of her post in early summer saying basicall the same except that Obama was not a good candidate. Now she says he is not a good leader.
I am not saying that the message could not have been more forcefully multiplied by the dems but do they really have to have Obama do everything? Do we really believe he told the dems to say nothing to support the package? So I have to wonder if part of the missing push has to do with a dem party which does not know how to lead instead of pushing agaisnt the pres.
Another issue–so the President was on tv esterday doing a ton of interviews and have we seen ANY reporting on that? by the media? by the bloggers? The focus instead has been on screaming that he is doing nothing. Well he gave us the talking points yesterday and today as you so clearly showcased. So why are these talking points not front page in all the blogs that are this time criticizing Obama for not selling the stim package. I just think a lot of what happens in the blogs is still framed through the republican lens instead of following Obama’s lead. And this just reminds me so much of everything that went on in the campaign. I know governing is not the same thing and the stim package is a short time frame not the long frame Obama usually plans for, but do we really think that aside from the Daschle thing yesterday they are simply improvising? Maybe I drank too much Kool Aid but I just don’t buy that.
I am
I have a tendency to believe these polls, and imho, I believe they would be much worse if this were not an emergency situation. However they know this country, this economy, their community, and in many, many cases- they themselves desperately need this.
The key thing is that most people I spoke to who supported Obama thought they would get a tax cut in their pay checks. The small $500 check is nothing given California’s amazinngly high unemployment and cost of living. It is not a stimulous bill and is not what was expected of Obama. Obama needs to go back and read what he promised and how it was interpreted by the public.
‘Bad Gallup numbers’ — you mean the numbers showing supporters up 52-38%? The poll that showed support that hadn’t budged in a week of negativity? Wow, talk about upside-down spin. http://www.pollingreport.com/budget.htm