Actually, there’s more to it than that: Americans don’t just think Barack Obama is a liberal; they also think he’s decidedly to the left of them, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. USA Today reports:
On a scale of 1 to 5 — with 1 being very liberal and 5 being very conservative — respondents rated themselves as a 3.3 ideologically, slightly to the right of center.
They perceive Obama to be a 2.3, to the left of center.
Some of the Republican candidates are more aligned with the respondents, said the poll: “Americans perceive Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul as closest to themselves ideologically, and Michele Bachmann and Barack Obama as furthest away.”
I’m far less baffled by the majority’s opinion of Obama than I am by the 23 percent of respondents who describe the president’s views as “moderate” and the additional 15 percent who describe the president’s positions as “conservative.” Am I to understand that 38 percent of Americans either (a) have even more radical views than Obama, compared with which his seem “moderate” or “conservative” or (b) don’t understand the meaning of the terms “moderate” and “conservative”?
More relevantly, though, this could be a somewhat positive indicator of the president’s vulnerability as an incumbent
Part of obama’sre-election strategy is to manipulate the polls, allowing him to appear ‘conservative’. I do not believe any polls at this point, especially coming from those who supported him in 2008, and have been glossing over his corruption, poor stewardship of this country etc….ever since.