How nervous are Democrats as they watch economic anxieties rise and public approval of President Obama’s handling of the economy fall?
Very nervous. “The president is extremely vulnerable, extraordinarily vulnerable,” says a plugged-in Democratic strategist. “I’m stunned that he’s going on vacation. It’s just appallingly stupid. The stupidity of it just amazes me.”
“Vulnerable” is an understatement. In a new Gallup poll, just 26 percent of those surveyed approve of Obama’s handling of the economy, while 71 percent disapprove. And unhappiness with the president’s economic policy is the major force dragging down his overall job approval rating with key independent voters: A recent Fox News poll, in which Obama had a 42 percent general approval rating, found that just 31 percent of independents approve of his job performance, while 55 percent disapprove.
If those numbers don’t rise, Obama will lose next November. It’s no wonder that another Democratic strategist, Celinda Lake, sent out a message this week saying simply: “Getting urgent to have an economic plan and literally repeat an aspect every day.” It turns out the plan is coming, but only after Obama’s vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.
On the Republican side, the battle for the presidential nomination is dominated by two governors, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who are stressing job creation and economic recovery. But there’s still some dissatisfaction with the GOP field, and now some prominent figures in the party are trying to convince Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, to enter the race.
A Ryan candidacy would highlight a schism of sorts inside the GOP. Republicans won last year’s midterm election on a platform of jobs, jobs, jobs. Yet they have spent much of this year trying to cut federal spending. And that has sparked an internal debate over whether the party is on the right track.
On election night 2010, Republican strategists conducted a poll that asked GOP voters, “During the past year, many people have posed the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’ Would you agree or disagree that this was THE central question in this election?” Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed agreed, versus just 20 percent who disagreed. That same night, the pollsters asked Republican voters which issue had been most important in deciding their vote. Fifty-four percent said jobs and the economy, versus 10 percent who said the deficit and federal spending.
