More Polling Goodness
President Obama won nine red and purple states in 2008 in addition to the 19 typically blue states that John Kerry, Al Gore and Bill Clinton carried for the last 20 years. Those states are Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Nevada and Indiana, as well as the one congressional district in Nebraska, which may or may not exist in 2012 because petulant Republicans in the state legislature are trying to pass a bill to make Nebraska winner take all again.
To see where he stands for reelection at this point, Public Policy Polling polled every state but Indiana (which has some strange law against automated polling). The results are very heartening.
As you can see, President Obama would win all eight states and the NE-2 again, in some cases by even larger margins. Romney is obviously the best candidate polling wise for the GOP. Too bad for them that there is no way the teabagging base of the Republican Party will vote for him.
The Battlegrounds will be Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, as that is where the polls are closest at this point.
The irony is that Obama won those states by articulating a Democratic case and not diluting his brand by fawning over the “center.” If this turns into an Al Gore type battle to the the “moderates” in a handful of rural counties in Florida and Ohio – While the GOP candidate energizes the Republican base, then we lose.
Unfortunately, Jason, the media fawns over the “center.” I have not seen Obama doing it. You are confusing pragmatism with fawning to the center.
Obama’s learned how to play the media. Hint: it has a lot to do with “bipartisan.” For example, talking to the Chamber of Commerce. We all know nothing will come out of it except lazy media stories about how he’s moving to the center by sucking up to the CoC.
Despite being Republicans, the media fawns over winners (as do voters). If Obama had used his presidential powers to prevail with his 2008 platform, the media would be fawning over his center left strategy and the “rebirth of liberalism” which reawakened the Democratic base, kept the House majority, and splintered the Republican coalition.
But Obama chose to snooze while his key 2008 promises were before the Senate, and offered up new center-right bills in their place, which he pushed enthusiastically. So the media is now fawning over his center right strategy.
Here we go again — the magical Presidential Powers. Magical Presidential Powers that didn’t need 60 votes in the Senate.
🙄
Obama was relatively centrist during his campaign — certainly articulating a Democratic message, but still a fairly centrist one. And he hasn’t done too badly in delivering on that. The *possibility* of an Obama Presidency was one that would be open to more progressive action. Unfortunately, progressives could not create the space to make that happen. And you can sort of see why, yes? If you still don’t comprehend what a supermajority in a Senate that has a handful of Dems who simply owe nothing to this President, then I guess falling back to magic as a way to frame the world might make some sense.
Your both right. Obama compromised too soon, and the US Senate is a hive of scum and villainy. I would add, however, that Presidents Snow, Collins, and Lieberman didn’t force Obama to come up small in the campaign for Ted Kennedy’s seat.
But that’s his strategy, To play small ball. I just hope that he opens it up to compete in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and Virginia. Gore showed that the small ball (Republican light) strategy is a loser for Dems in those states.
And before this gets carried away, I know the Pres does not have super powers, but I also know that he has some human powers.
The Republicans say Obama is too far to the left and the far Left says that Obama is too far to the right. Both are wrong.
When true progressives complain about, say, Obama’s proposal to slash LIHEAP heap funding, they are not complaining about his lack of magical powers with the US Senate. Instead they are complaining about his occasional lack of ordinary human decency.
START didn’t have 60 votes, but man did you see Obama work that thing?
O08, you don’t think there is a difference between an arms control treaty with Russia and Healthcare reform?
Really?
One is a treaty that enjoyed bipartisan support for over twenty years, and another is one that nearly every Republican opposes, as well as some conservative Democrats.
And you don’t think Obama was working the HCR vote??
Jesus, he staked his presidency on it. Yes, it is not everything we wanted, but still.
Purity, a disease found on both sides of the political spectrum
Dana, I agree on Heat assistance funding. A horrible choice by the President.
START came with built in leverage, with a constituency influential among both Ds and Rs. Not so, say, the public option. Which, of course, won’t mean much to the people looking for magic.
And if the LIHEAP cuts do come through, that would be a horrible choice. But if the topic is about Obama occupying the center, then there you go.
Nemski. Don’t you think that Republicans how say Obama is a socialist are just using an Overton window strategy. Nobody who looks at Obama can see him as a leftist, at least nobody who knows what “left” and “right” actually means can think it.
Absolutely right on Dana. There will be other cuts by Obama to hurt the poor and working class as he moves even further to the right. Obama was never a progressive he was always right of center. Progressives allowed themselves to overlook many of his Bush policies like: Iraq, Afganistan, War on Terror, War on Drugs! Wonder if Venezula will come to Delaware’s aid in the heating dept? Well maybe if the righties don’t bomb them next.
And you don’t think Obama was working the HCR vote??
The Senate version, yes. When the House version was up, not so much. Same script for the tax bills.
START did not have bipartisan support. Obama had to peel away Republicans one at a time to get to 60 votes. Which proves he can do it when he wants (or at least try to).
Obama’s START effort was accompanied by choreographed messaging in the press from the White House detailing Obama’s efforts to bring Republicans on board. This messaging was absent for the HCR and tax House bills. In fact when the House tax bill was up in the Senate, Obama was in Afghanistan.
So no, I don’t think he worked those bills.
Anon, I wondered the same thing. I wondered if Chavez would consider expanding his program of offering low cost heating oil to the USA’s poor in light of the deep cuts that are coming to LIHEAP. Perhaps progressives can campaign for it by writing the Venezuelan embassy in DC.
I’m delighted to see these results.
The left is just as delusional as the right is with their leaders.
Yayyyyyyyyyyy.
Tax cuts solve all problems!
Nobody is as pure of heart as Donviti of Nazareth.