So Far, Not So Good

We haven’t been very critical of President Obama’s response to events in Egypt, but the current trend in Scott Rasmussen’s Presidential approval index suggests that most Americans haven’t been impressed. Ever since November’s election, negative attitudes toward President Obama have been softening. His overall approval rating among likely voters has risen a bit and, even more noticeably, the “strong disapproval” that is recorded in the approval index has moderated. If that trend had continued, it seemed that the approval index could even go positive. But look at what has happened in recent days:
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Similarly, Obama’s overall approval has once again gone negative at 46/53. I don’t know what could have caused this other than the Egyptian crisis.
My guess is that most voters, like us, aren’t particularly critical of Obama’s actions with respect to Egypt. Rather, Obama does better when he is out of sight and out of mind, and when voters are reassured by Republican gains in Congress that his influence is checked. The current international crisis likely reminds voters how little confidence they have in Obama’s judgment or, more important, his strength when he is required by events to act as commander in chief.

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