Barack Obama is wildly popular. But in Versailles, not so much. After all, he's a Democrat and now that Republicans have rejected his bipartisan gestures, it's clear that he's got cooties, just like all the other Democrats in DC, except maybe Ben Nelson.
So Obama's continued popularity comes as a bit of shock to Versaillers, as seen in Politico with "Public still sky-high on Obama 'brand'":
With Barack Obama's victory in passing a massive stimulus package marred by days of bad press - as not a single House Republican backed the bill, his health czar went down in flames and his second pick for commerce secretary walked away - the administration has been cut down to size, and lost some of its bipartisan sheen.
Such, at least, has been the beltway chatter, but so far the numbers don't back it up.
Obama's approval rating remains well above 60 percent in tracking polls. A range of state pollsters said they'd seen no diminution in the president's sky-high approval ratings, and no improvement in congressional Republicans' dismal numbers.
And that's before the stimulus creates billions of dollars in spending on popular programs, which could, at least temporarily, further boost Obama's popularity.
"It's eerie - I read the news from the Beltway, and there's this disconnect with the polls from the Midwest that I see all around me," said Ann Seltzer, the authoritative Iowa pollster who works throughout the Midwest.
Those tracking polls are national, however. They look different when you break them down by region. Consider the following, from the Feb 9-12 DKos poll:
BARACK OBAMA
FAV UNFAV NO OPINION
ALL 68 25 7
NORTHEAST 83 10 7
SOUTH 51 44 5
MIDWEST 71 21 8
WEST 73 19 8
In the South, the numbers look pretty much like the national election. In every other region, however, his favorables are over 70%.
Regionals--plus non-South totals--on the parties and party leaders on the flip
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| First, let's look at Obama and the party leaders in Congress, with net favorables and the non-South totals added to the regional breakdown provided above. The net favorables combined with the regional breakdown make it very clear that we still live in a very divided country. It's just that the divide has shifted dramatically to left. The South is narrowly divided, while the rest of the Country is overwhelmingly pro-Dem and anti-GOP, as can be clearly seen in the ratings for Obama, McConnell and Boehner:
In the South, Obama has a net favorable of 7 points, compared to McConnell at -2. That's just a 9-point difference. But outside the South, Obama's net favorables are an astronomical 58%, compared to McConnell's abysmal -39%, a jaw-dropping difference of 97%. Baehner goes from 16% down in the South to 107% down everywhere else.
Reid and Pelosi have much less dramatic swings. Still, Pelosi trails Boehner by 2% in the South, -11% to -9, but wallops him elsewhere, +10% to -49%, a 59% thumping. Reid loses badly to McConnell--by 19 points--in his Southern stomping grounds, but crushes him by 33 points elsewhere, -6% t -29%. Reid is not a popular guy anywhere, really. But outside the South, McConnell is running neck-and-neck with Dick Cheney and the Ebola virus.
The story is much the same when we turn to the parties, both in Congress and in general:
Congressional trail Republicans by 5 points in the South, -32% to -27%. But outside the South, the lead by 53%, -7% to -60%. For the parties in general, it's even more tilted toward the Dems. In the South, they barely lose by 5%, -8% to -3% for the Reps. Outside the South, Dems have a 71% avalanche advantage over Reps, +30% to -41%.
In short, every single matchup shows the South relatively close--except for McConnell creaming Harry Reids, while outside the South, Reps are justsimply demolished.
Well, up until the New Deal and then the Civil Rights Movement started changing things, it was axiomatic that Washington was a Southern town. These figures pretty much show that it still is.
Somebody needs to tell Versailles that the South lost the Civil War. And the President is a black. |
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