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July 21, 2009

New poll shows trust in The One not what it once was

Rick Moran
Oh, the problems of being a celebrity Messiah.

Worshipful minions can turn into pitchfork wielding citizens if you're not careful. The American public is fickle as the weather when it comes to adoration of their media created gods, and once the object of adulation is revealed to have feet of clay, the not only turn on their former deity but do so with a vengeance.

The president is being revealed to be human after all. And, as many of us warned last November, Obama's biggest problem would be to meet the impossible expectations generated for him by the media and not disappoint his worshipful supporters.

Recent polls are pointing to this notion - that Obama is still getting high marks for being a swell guy but that more and more Americans are finding his policies to be poison.

Now a new poll out in Politico measures another vital presidential yardstick; trust. Andy Barr has the bad news for Obama:

Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll.

Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.

The president's party has taken a similar hit since the last Public Trust Monitor poll, with only 42 percent of respondents saying that they trust the Democratic Party, compared with 52 percent who do not. The party's numbers are nearly the inverse of March's survey, in which 52 percent said they trusted Democrats and 42 percent did not.

Obama's personal approval rating has fallen below 60 percent in a number of recent major polls, and according to a Washington Post/ABC News survey out Monday, support for the president's leadership on several key issues has fallen below 50 percent.

Ed Lasky adds:

Maybe it has something to do with his history for breaking promises, his sneakiness with programs and policies, his disingenuousness in his policy approach towards governing, his use of fake figures to justify programs, his use of straw men, false arguments, and his divide and conquer tactics that are beneath the dignity of the office..

Unfortunately, the Republicans are not getting the benefit of Obama's fall. In fact, the Politico poll shows that they have lost ground to the Democrats even though the liberals have lost trust by the voters.

This is to be expected when the GOP has failed to enunciate any kind of coherent opposition to Obama's policies. John Boehner's trust numbers are a joke at 15%. Even Nancy Pelosi ranks higher at 24%.

The way forward is clear: Republicans must demonstrate leadership in not only opposing Obama's policies but in formulating alternatives where possible. Are there reforms that can be made in health care that conservative can support? Of course there are. Market driven solutions to bringing down run away costs have been out there for years. All it needs is an articulate spokesman to present them as a viable alternative to Obamacare.

Obama goes on TV tomorrow night in a prime time press conference that will no doubt put him on the spot on health care. It will be interesting to see how many people still believe him afterwards.



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