Obama Puts His Popularity to Work in Close Senate Races - Horowitz
Tuesday, November 01, 2022
With a current favorability rating of about 60%, former president Barack Obama is putting his popularity and still potent communication skills to work in the Senate races that will determine whether in this year of political headwinds, the Democrats can hold on to their control of the US Senate.
The two-term former president, who won substantial majorities in both of his presidential elections, spoke at rallies in Georgia and Wisconsin over this past weekend, making an impassioned case to re-elect Senator Raphael Warnock in his battle with Herschel Walker and to elect Mandela Barnes in his quest to defeat Senator Ron Johnson as well as touting the Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the two states. Between now and election day, Mr. Obama will make campaign appearances in two other Senate battlegrounds, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
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In his appearance with Warnock, the former president drew on one of his persistent themes: the responsibility of each of us to be active citizens--not mere spectators--for our democracy to be maintained and strengthened. In the wake of the “Big Lie’ and the related belief among a substantial majority of the electorate that our democracy is under threat, this is a theme that strikes a resonant chord. "Democracy is not self-executing. It depends on us working, nurturing, caring for it not just on Election Day, but every day in between,” Obama told the large Atlanta crowd. It depends on us as citizens saying, 'This matters!’ This election matters, Georgia."
Mr. Obama also went directly after the Republicans generally and Walker in particular on crime, an issue that has been playing to their advantage in this election cycle. The former president remarked, “Who will fight to keep you and your family safe? The Republican politicians who want to flood our streets with more guns? Who actually voted against more resources for our police departments? Is it somebody who carries around a phony badge and says he’s in law enforcement, like he’s a kid playing cops and robbers?"
It is the case that with the notable exception of Donald Trump’s outsized impact in some Republican primary contests, endorsements and appearances on behalf of candidates by national politicians rarely make more than a slight difference. In races as close as the ones in these Senate battlegrounds, however, Mr. Obama’s capacity to generate a bit more enthusiasm in key Democratic constituencies, such as African Americans and younger voters, potentially resulting in an incremental boost in turn-out and to persuade some voters that remain on the fence can be one ingredient in a strong close that for some of these candidates could be the difference between winning and losing. As a popular former president, he is dominating the local news cycle in the states in which he is appearing, giving the Democratic senate candidates he is actively backing positive media attention that as the campaign moves into its closing days, would be hard to garner any other way.
As political observers have noted, Obama’s appearances take on added importance because President Biden’s anemic approval ratings nationally and in most of the states that will determine control of the Senate, make it prudent for him to mainly stay away. A political realist, Mr. Biden recognizes this reality.
No matter the outcome of these Senate races, it is good to see Barack Obama, a former president who is devoted to strengthening our democracy--not to tearing it down as his immediate successor keeps working overtime to do--back on the trail. The popular former president’s thoughtful and eloquent voice is needed in these perilous times for our democracy.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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