Obama Approval Drops - Rhode Island Reacts

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Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Dan McGowan, GoLocalProv News Contributor

The latest Gallup poll says half of Rhode Island still supports President Obama, but his approval numbers are down five percent since February, which some political observers believe could be a bad sign heading into an election year.

The Ocean State fell from having the seventh-highest approval numbers for the President six months ago (55.1 percent) to outside the top ten in the new poll, which was released Monday. Obama has at least 50 percent support in 16 states, including all of New England except New Hampshire, up from 12 in the last poll.

But Darrell West, Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., said the President’s numbers should be higher in a state as blue as Rhode Island.

“A 50 percent approval rating for President Obama in Rhode Island is not very encouraging. In such a Democratic state, Obama should be doing better,” West said. “If he can’t hold support in a Democratic state, it is going to be very difficult for him in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain areas.”

Democratic Chair: RI Democrats Are Confident

Others say the President’s numbers in Rhode Island show he still has a solid base. And while his approval rating may have dropped five points, his disapproval numbers increased by less than two percent.

Ed Pacheco, Chairman of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, said Rhode Island Democrats remained confident in the President.

“President Obama's recent poll numbers in reference to Rhode Island are consistent,” Pacheco said. “As we look ahead to the 2012 election cycle, RI Democrats are confident in the President's ability lead our nation for an additional four years into 2016.”

GOP: Hope Isn’t Hiring

On the other side of aisle, state GOP leaders say the drop in support since the 2008 election is a sign that Obama hasn’t lived up to his promises. Patrick Sweeney (pictured left), Executive Director of the Rhode Island Republican Party, said he isn’t surprised that support for the President appears to be shrinking in the state.

"President Obama's numbers are a direct correlation to his lack of leadership,” Sweeney said. “He promised the American people "Hope and Change" but Hope isn't hiring. The President sold us on a $831 billion dollar stimulus that was supposed to keep unemployment below 8%, however currently 9.1% of Americans are out of work. Under the President's stewardship, the US has lost 2.5 million jobs, the President has tacked on almost $4 trillion dollars to our deficit, a gallon of gas has more than doubled, and for the first time in the history of the United States our bond rating has been downgraded leading to the greatest stock market losses since 2008. The President has also failed to close Gitmo and end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while entering a war in Libya which has cost the taxpayers of America close to $1 billion dollars."

Sweeney said it’s time for Rhode Island to vote Republican for just the fifth time since 1928.

"We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” Sweeney said. “The United States debt is now greater than our entire economy. I believe this is why 64% of Americans disapprove of the way the President has handled the economy and the federal budget deficit and 60% disapprove of the way he has handled the unemployment crisis. America deserves better. We need a leader. A Republican president is the only way to get America back on track."

Profughi: A More Significant Number

Nationally, the President’s approval rating held at 47 percent. According to Gallup, a President with at least 50 percent approval nationwide almost always wins reelection, but President Bush managed to do so in 2004 with 48 percent.

What makes the President’s sinking number in Rhode Island so significant isn’t so much the latest poll, but the overall nose dive in support since 2009, says Quest Research pollster Victor Profughi.

“Gallup's figures show Obama down by nearly 16% in Rhode Island since 2009, through the most recent numbers,” Profughi said. “This gap over the time period is more significant than the apparent slippage of 5% since February.”

Profughi said the numbers since 2009 mean more important than a poll taken over the last six months.

“The reason I say this is that taken alone the 5% drop reported in RI could easily mean absolutely nothing since a margin of error factor for the RI sample could easily be 3 to 4% for each of the surveys. But the large slippage since 2009 appears to be meaningful,” he said.

Young Dems President: The Numbers Will Come Back

Still, Young Democrats President Dave Graziano remains hopeful. He said the numbers are more reflective of the debt ceiling debate in Washington.

“The dip from February to now in Rhode Island was most likely a function of the stalemate in Washington over the debt ceiling,” Graziano said. “That time period stunted the President’s ability to push meaningful and actionable policies that would affect folks at their kitchen tables.”

Graziano said the President’s recent announcements of a jobs initiative for veterans, which calls on the private industry to put 100,000 unemployed veterans and spouses to work, will improve the unemployment rate and his approval numbers. He also pointed to Obama’s decisions to raise the CAFÉ standards so that automakers are challenged to increase efficiency and cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

“As Rhode Islanders watch the President deliver good policy that will get them out of the unemployment line and lessen the sting at the gas pump, that's when you'll see that number jump back up,” Graziano said.

 

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