Is President Obama In Electoral Trouble ?

We're still a year away from the 2012 presidential election, and a lot can happen in the next year to tilt the election one way or another. But there are already a lot of pundits who are claiming the president is in trouble and can't win a second term -- especially if the economy stays in the dumps, as it most assuredly will. But I'm not so sure. I think the president is in better shape than most people think. And I also believe that most people know it was the Republicans who hurt the economy, and they are the ones blocking all attempts to fix it.

And I think a new poll backs me up on that. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll, completed between between November 2nd and 5th of 1000 nationwide adults (with a margin of error of 3.1%), tends to show the president is not in as much trouble as some people think.

It does start off with a couple of disconcerting statistics. It shows that 73% of Americans believe that the country is "on the wrong track", and that 57% of the public disapproves of how the president is handling the economy. Those figures would make some think the pundits might be right and the president is in trouble. But what they don't realize is that the American people are mad at ALL of the politicians in Washington, and they are much more angry with both parties in Congress than they are with the president. Look at the answers they gave to these other questions, and then tell me if you think the president is really in trouble:


SINCE THE PRESIDENT TOOK OFFICE HAS HE DONE BETTER, WORSE, OR ABOUT AS YOU EXPECTED?
Better...............10%
As expected...............54%
Worse...............35%
Not sure...............1%

DO YOU HAVE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE VIEW OF THE FOLLOWING:

President Obama
positive...............45%
negative...............40%
neutral...............15%

Democratic Party
positive...............40%
negative...............37%
neutral...............22%

Republican Party
positive...............30%
negative...............44%
neutral...............23%

WOULD YOU VOTE FOR ROMNEY OR OBAMA?
Obama...............49%
Romney...............43%

WOULD YOU VOTE FOR CAIN OR OBAMA?
Obama...............53%
Cain...............38%

DO YOU LIKE OBAMA (REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT HIS POLICIES)?
Yes...............71%
No...............26%

HOW MUCH BLAME DO YOU GIVE THE FOLLOWING FOR NOT FIXING AMERICA'S PROBLEMS:

Congressional Republicans
A great deal/quite a bit...............56%
A little bit/just some...............43%

Congressional Democrats
A great deal/quite a bit...............47%
A little bit/just some...............52%

President Obama
A great deal/quite a bit...............36%
A little bit/just some...............64%

WOULD YOU FIND THE FOLLOWING ELECTION OUTCOMES ACCEPTABLE?

Obama wins & Democrats control both houses of Congress.
Yes...............51%
No...............45%

Obama loses & Republicans control both houses of Congress.
Yes...............45%
No...............45%

Obama wins & Republicans control both houses of Congress.
Yes...............39%
No...............51%

WHO IS MOST TO BLAME FOR OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?
Wall Street banker...............36%
George Bush...............34%
Barack Obama...............21%

DID OBAMA INHERIT OR CREATE OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?
Inherited...............60%
Created...............28%
Some of both...............9%
Not sure...............3%

Frankly, I don't think President Obama is in such a bad position. His presidential approval numbers could certainly be better, but they are much better than the numbers for Congress, especially for the Republicans in Congress. And he still beats all the Republican candidates in the polls. Romney has come close in some polls, but he hasn't shown he can get the Republican nomination yet (and I'm not sure he can).

I think this poll (and many others) show it is the Republicans who need to worry. People may be mad at all the politicians, but they are more angry with the Republicans. I think that's because the Republicans prove more every day that they are only concerned about the rich.

President Obama really has only one worry in the upcoming election -- will the progressives stick with him and work for him to turn out the vote. They have been disappointed by his failure to stand up to the Republicans in the past, but lately he has shown improvement on that front. He needs to keep this up for the next year. If he does, he will win re-election.