New Poll Shows Obama Losing Liberal Support

Obama's approval numbers have been under 50% for several months now. A new poll by CNN (conducted by ORC International between July 18th and July 20th nationwide of 1,009 adults, with a margin of error of 3 points) shows that only 45 % of the public approves of the job the president is doing, while 54% disapprove of his job performance.

However, it would be a mistake to think that the people are starting to turn back to the Republicans. The public actually disapproves of the Republicans even more than they do the president. About 58% disapprove of the job being done by the Republican's in Congress, while only 37% approve.

So what is happening here? If 58% disapprove of the insane Republican policies, should that 58% be in Obama's camp? A breakdown of the president's approval/disapproval numbers shows what is going on. Here is that breakdown:

45% - approve of Obama job performance
38% - disapprove because he is too liberal
13% - disapprove because he is not liberal enough
3% - disapprove (but unsure about liberal status)
2% - no opinion

It turns out that at least 13% of those disapproving of Obama's job performance are progressives/liberals -- people who's support he had in the 2008 election. If he still had the support of these people, his approval rating would be about 58%. These are people who have become very disillusioned with Obama's center-right governing positions (and failure to keep many progressive promises he made in the 2008 campaign).

Many progressives have become increasingly unhappy with actions like passing a weak Republican-oriented health care reform (which didn't include a public option or cover all Americans while giving private insurance a huge payday), failure to close Guantanamo, weak financial reforms (which allowed Wall Street to immediately resume their greed-mongering), continuation of both wars far beyond the promised withdrawal dates, and his continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

And the unhappiness of progressives is growing. Back around May 1st this same poll showed about 7% thought he was not liberal enough -- a figure that has now grown to 13%. The failures mentioned above was bad enough, but recently the president has been talking about making a deal with Republicans to cut trillions from government spending -- and has indicated he is willing to consider cuts in Social Security and Medicare (programs that are working well and do not contribute to the federal deficit).

This continuing willingness to give in to Republican demands and go along with failed Republican economic policies is just "a bridge too far" for many progressives. The trillions of dollars in cuts is exactly the wrong thing to do in a recession. It will contract the economy, stifle job creation, and extend the recession for many more years. And cutting excellent programs like Social Security and Medicare (whose future funding problems can easily be remedied by raising or eliminating the cap on taxable income) is sheer insanity. How can he be willing to throw the elderly "under the bus" just to get a bad deal with the Republicans.

It seems the president is taking a calculated risk. He (or his advisors) think these progressives will have to vote for him in 2012 because a Republican alternative would be worse. He might need to re-think that faulty logic. What difference would it make whether the president was Obama or a Republican, if either one is going to continue Republican corporatist economic policies -- policies that have already been shown to be an abject failure.

While he may be right that these progressives will never vote for the Republican candidate, he needs to realize that is not their only option. If they become unhappy enough, they could vote for a third-party candidate (remember Nader?) or just stay at home (or leave the presidential slot on the ballot blank). It is a serious mistake to take these progressives for granted.

Frankly, I am already very close to that point. Right now I don't know if I can vote for Obama again or not. I do know though that if he allows or agrees to any further cuts in Medicare or any cuts in Social Security, that would tip me over the edge. I might as well beat my head against a brick wall as support a candidate that doesn't care about me (or other ordinary Americans).

NOTE -- The above image was taken from a cartoon by Joe Heller in The Green Bay Press-Gazette.