WASHINGTON - Its doubtful you will hear this on the network news tonight but President Obama and his party are in deep political trouble. And its getting worse.
Obamas job disapproval polls climbed into the mid-50 percent range in the past week. Nearly 60 percent of the voters now say they worry a great deal about the weak economy federal spending and record deficits according to the Gallup Poll.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll this Wednesday shows that 65 percent of voters believe America is on the wrong track. Thats almost nine straight months that this political measurement has been over 60 percent.
Democrats lost a special House election in Florida on Tuesday in a district Obama carried twice in his 2008-2012 presidential races. Republicans focused almost entirely on voter disapproval of Obamacare in that contest a strategy that will be replicated by Republicans in elections around the county this fall.
Democrats havent had a week his bad since 2010 said veteran election forecaster Charlie Cook.
Other polls show growing discontent across party lines with Obamas dysfunctional job performance and with the Democrats in general. And Obamas warning his party that they may face another shellacking by Republicans in the November midterm elections like the one they got in 2010 when Democrats lost majority control of the House.
Only this time the Democratic-run Senate is now up for grabs raising the prospect of a Republican-run Congress in the last two years of Obamas second term.
In the midterms Democrats too often dont vote. Too often when theres not a presidential election we dont think its sexy we dont think its interesting Obama told complacent Democrats this week at a fundraiser in New York City.
People tune out. And because the electorate has changed we get walloped. Its happened before and it could happen again he said.
Forget all those politically slanted news stories youve read in the liberal media about how the GOP brand has become deeply unpopular. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week found that Half of voters in states with Senate races are supporting Republicans in the November elections vs. 42 percent for Democrats the newspaper reported Wednesday.
Democrats face a daunting electoral landscape with almost no chance of winning the House and a high risk of losing the Senate the Post said.
In a remarkable misreading of the uppermost concerns of the American people Obama has been running around the country peddling higher income taxes more spending early childhood education expanding federal job-training programs and boosting payroll costs on small businesses by raising the minimum wage.
In the Democratic Senate 28 out of touch senators held on all- night talkathon Monday to focus public attention on what they perceive to be one of the nations chief issues: climate change.
But thats far from what most Americans are worrying about. In fact climate change is near the bottom of a list of 15 issues.
More Americans worry about the economy record levels in government spending big budget deficits and debt than the environment Gallup said.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that they worried a great deal about the economy; 58 said the same thing about spending and deficits; and 57 percent worried about health care costs.
Coming in at No. 4 on the list 48 percent said they worried about jobs and unemployment a great deal with another 28 percent worrying about it a fair amount.
Gallup noted that the 31 percent who said they worried a great deal about the environment this year was the lowest level recorded since they began measuring this in 2001.
The U.S. Labor Department last week said the Obama economy created only 175000 jobs in February after only producing 129000 jobs in January -- dismal numbers in a potential labor force of 160 million Americans.
The White House and its apologists in the news media blame these pathetically weak job numbers on the winter weather. But Peter Morici an economist at the University of Marylands school of business and a critic of Obamas economic policies says these mediocre results are consistent with a broadly underperforming economy.
Clearly the sluggish economy was driving the presidents and the Democrats polling numbers down into dangerous territory. The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said 56 percent of Americans now disapprove of the presidents handling of the economy.
But widespread disapproval of Obamacare was also a major factor in the Democrats declining popularity at the grassroots. When Americans are asked what they thought of the health care law 35 percent said it was a good idea but a hefty 49 percent said it was a bad idea.
All of this is eating away at the Democrats support in the midterm elections. When pollsters asked if they prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats or by Republicans respondents provided data that gave the GOP a one point edge overall Cook writes this week in his latest election analysis.
While that may sound insignificant this poll question for whatever reason has historically been skewed three to four points towards Democrat he explains.
These new numbers appear pretty much comparable to the two- point GOP edge in the last NBC/WSJ poll taken just before the 2010 Republican landslide victory he said.
Close to half a dozen Democrat incumbents are in tight races with narrow leads over their challengers he says.
But Cook cautions that incumbents usually dont grow their actual vote much above their poll numbers while undecided voters tend to break more for challengers.
Thats why he adds these poll numbers should be troubling for Democrats.
Donald Lambro is chief political correspondent for The Washington Times.
WASHINGTON - Its doubtful you will hear this on the network news tonight but President Obama and his party are in deep political trouble. And its getting worse.
Obamas job disapproval polls climbed into the mid-50 percent range in the past week. Nearly 60 percent of the voters now say they worry a great deal about the weak economy federal spending and record deficits according to the Gallup Poll.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll this Wednesday shows that 65 percent of voters believe America is on the wrong track. Thats almost nine straight months that this political measurement has been over 60 percent.
Democrats lost a special House election in Florida on Tuesday in a district Obama carried twice in his 2008-2012 presidential races. Republicans focused almost entirely on voter disapproval of Obamacare in that contest a strategy that will be replicated by Republicans in elections around the county this fall.
Democrats havent had a week his bad since 2010 said veteran election forecaster Charlie Cook.
Other polls show growing discontent across party lines with Obamas dysfunctional job performance and with the Democrats in general. And Obamas warning his party that they may face another shellacking by Republicans in the November midterm elections like the one they got in 2010 when Democrats lost majority control of the House.
Only this time the Democratic-run Senate is now up for grabs raising the prospect of a Republican-run Congress in the last two years of Obamas second term.
In the midterms Democrats too often dont vote. Too often when theres not a presidential election we dont think its sexy we dont think its interesting Obama told complacent Democrats this week at a fundraiser in New York City.
People tune out. And because the electorate has changed we get walloped. Its happened before and it could happen again he said.
Forget all those politically slanted news stories youve read in the liberal media about how the GOP brand has become deeply unpopular. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week found that Half of voters in states with Senate races are supporting Republicans in the November elections vs. 42 percent for Democrats the newspaper reported Wednesday.
Democrats face a daunting electoral landscape with almost no chance of winning the House and a high risk of losing the Senate the Post said.
In a remarkable misreading of the uppermost concerns of the American people Obama has been running around the country peddling higher income taxes more spending early childhood education expanding federal job-training programs and boosting payroll costs on small businesses by raising the minimum wage.
In the Democratic Senate 28 out of touch senators held on all- night talkathon Monday to focus public attention on what they perceive to be one of the nations chief issues: climate change.
But thats far from what most Americans are worrying about. In fact climate change is near the bottom of a list of 15 issues.
More Americans worry about the economy record levels in government spending big budget deficits and debt than the environment Gallup said.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that they worried a great deal about the economy; 58 said the same thing about spending and deficits; and 57 percent worried about health care costs.
Coming in at No. 4 on the list 48 percent said they worried about jobs and unemployment a great deal with another 28 percent worrying about it a fair amount.
Gallup noted that the 31 percent who said they worried a great deal about the environment this year was the lowest level recorded since they began measuring this in 2001.
The U.S. Labor Department last week said the Obama economy created only 175000 jobs in February after only producing 129000 jobs in January -- dismal numbers in a potential labor force of 160 million Americans.
The White House and its apologists in the news media blame these pathetically weak job numbers on the winter weather. But Peter Morici an economist at the University of Marylands school of business and a critic of Obamas economic policies says these mediocre results are consistent with a broadly underperforming economy.
Clearly the sluggish economy was driving the presidents and the Democrats polling numbers down into dangerous territory. The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said 56 percent of Americans now disapprove of the presidents handling of the economy.
But widespread disapproval of Obamacare was also a major factor in the Democrats declining popularity at the grassroots. When Americans are asked what they thought of the health care law 35 percent said it was a good idea but a hefty 49 percent said it was a bad idea.
All of this is eating away at the Democrats support in the midterm elections. When pollsters asked if they prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats or by Republicans respondents provided data that gave the GOP a one point edge overall Cook writes this week in his latest election analysis.
While that may sound insignificant this poll question for whatever reason has historically been skewed three to four points towards Democrat he explains.
These new numbers appear pretty much comparable to the two- point GOP edge in the last NBC/WSJ poll taken just before the 2010 Republican landslide victory he said.
Close to half a dozen Democrat incumbents are in tight races with narrow leads over their challengers he says.
But Cook cautions that incumbents usually dont grow their actual vote much above their poll numbers while undecided voters tend to break more for challengers.
Thats why he adds these poll numbers should be troubling for Democrats.
Donald Lambro is chief political correspondent for The Washington Times.
