Economy erodes election hope for Democrats

Source: Reuters

Americans by a large majority believe President Barack Obama has not focused enough on job creation, as economic fears threaten Democrats ahead of November 2 congressional elections, a Reuters-Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.

In a sign of trouble ahead for the Democrats, the poll found evidence of a sizable enthusiasm gap with Republicans more energized about voting in the elections.

Americans expressed deep unhappiness with the direction of the economy, which in the poll they identified overwhelmingly as the country's top problem.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at a stubbornly high 9.5 percent and Obama has spent much of the year on issues like Wall Street reform and healthcare in addition to jobs.

People were more negative about Obama's performance on the economy than on any other question surveyed. Satisfaction was dropping more sharply on the issue than on any other question.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66Q4OO20100727?type=politicsNews

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Jobs are important.

I don't know how many more of these hand wringing polls I can take.

They ARE trying to make the economy work but are held hostage to arbitrary and regular filibusters by their republican compatriots in both the House and the Senate.

It makes one wonder how the Republicans under Bush got so much of their agenda through given that they did not have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Give the Republicans credit: they know how the game is played and they play to win, a concept that Democrats naively seem unable to grasp.

who had no problem giving fux noose the script to follow in order to get over on the american public=--and fux noose fell into lockstep with the thugs to set the discourse and vomit unsubstantiated thug talking points all over everyone.

The simpleminded, easily scared cowards thought that that was manna from heaven and couldn't get enough of it. They fall on their knees every night for their fix and suck long and hard on it.

Others, like progressives, saw it for what it was, but they had no effective and eloquent speakers who could penetrate the thick veneer of lies, manipulation and deceit contained in above mentioned vomit because all of the media relinquished their charge in order to not be called "libbbbbrrrrruuuullllssss" by something not even worthy to exist in its own right.

fux should have been strangled in its crib a long time ago.

employ a "goon squad". One positive thing you can say about the Republicans is that they are, taken as whole, less fractious as a party and coalition.

they are generally clustered around their ideology and platform and don't have a wide spread. The Democrats, OTOH, are spread across a much wider spectrum and the "extremes" of the party are significantly different on issues and voting.

This is completely normal when you have a larger population of ideas and motivations.

You said:
One positive thing you can say about the Republicans is that they are, taken as whole, less fractious as a party and coalition.

It seems to me that the minority party is generally less fractious. Obviously we are currently the majority party. During the 8 years of Bush 43 (6 years as minority) we generally voted together. Unfortunately we may about to be less fractious.

Really, read your post and think about how a Republican or Independent would take it. I counted at least 8 separate insults in your post.

"You attract more flies with sugar than with vinegar".

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the Democrats don't vote in lockstep like the Republicans do so though the Republicans didn't have a filibuster proof majority they could always count on enough conservative Democrats to vote for them to break any filibuster.

I saw an older women on TV just this weekend call herself a "Reagan Democrat" who is upset with our president and his "socialist agenda"

What the heck, she's already on social security and medicare so she can say those things :sarcasm:

Your comment in no way refutes the fact that the filibuster is only in the Senate, not the House.

If Republicans got by with only 50 votes it is only because Democrats allowed that to happen.

I didn't even know we had one.

They want us to think that most U.S. citizens don't realize
the root causes of our present economic woes. Our memories are
not as short as corporate media would like us to believe. This
is all a 'softening up' so people won't scream so loudly when the
electronic machines tally up a very unlikely Republican electoral
coup. There is much the Democrats have fucked up in the last two
years but hardly anyone wants the farcical republicans back in the
driver's seat.

It's bullshit, people.

It's not surprising when the party in power loses seats in an off year election because that is pretty normal. The question is whether Democrats will lose control of one house or the other. If that does not happen then Democrats have a lot for which to be thankful and another 2 years to hope that things improve.

I hope he lands real close to that plane.

just sayin

... illegal immigrants... gay marriage... you-name-it... the whole country talks about how many stupid people we must have in this country because they voted <repug name here> when in fact <repug name here> was only elected by Diebold. So, this year the fake issue will be the economy.

"So, this year the fake issue will be the economy."

Hm...maybe if I say it this way...hmmmm

"So, this year the fake issue will be the economy."

No....still a bit funny...If I emphasize the lead...

"So, this year the fake issue will be the economy."

Oh, God...I need to stop....

:rofl:

I'm interpreting DesertDiamond's meaning as "the media this year will fabricate the
sentiment that it is the Democrats who are responsible for the
bad economy." Every citizen with an I.Q. greater than Gump's recognizes that
the catastrophic policies of the previous administration threw us into the ditch.

But no matter who is more successful in framing it, the economy is not a fake issue for anyone. It will remain probably among the top 3 most important issue for the mass majority of people who go to the polls, regardless of whether the media even talks about it or not in a political tone (but they will). People are hurting.

There will be plenty of bullshit driven narrative to accompany general concerns about the economy, but it remains a real issue

You can count on that. It's still total and utter bullshit,
and my tolerance for bullshit is at an all time low.

Good night.

and could not seem to get enough of re-electing FDR and grieved like nobody's business when his death ended their ability to re-elect him. did so so many time, politicians got a Constitutional amendment going after he died. And FDR and his admin and advisors (incl. Joe Kennedy) had to invent the "heal America from a Wall Street rape" wheel. bernanke and the others studied the wheel FDR invented.

Yep, a memory--or view of history-- longer than 18 months is very useful.

The 'fake' issue will not be the economy in general the 'fake' issue will be that it is Obama and the Democrats fault that they couldn't magically fix in less than two years what it took the Republicans 8 years to really screw up. As much as I would like to think the American electorate is too smart to realize we are in the current economic situation because of policies pushed by the Republicans/conservatives I don't depend on it.

Illegal immigrants and the economy are legitimate issues. So is the deficit and when one party controls the Whitehouse, the Senate and the House of Representatives it's tough to blame the other party.

is somehow going to change that? No, of course not. Republicans job creation plan is tax cuts for the rich and deregulation. Supply side economics. That exactly the reason why the economy is so messed up right now. Republicans never create jobs. They get rid of them.

If Americans vote republicans in because they are mad about jobs, then they are idiots.

the reason. Repealing or modifying laws/regulations that had protected us since the Roosevelt boys were in office--and not replaccing them were a large part, as was sending our jobs out of the country. Altho' Raygun did start that odious ball rolling, both post Reagan Democrats and Republicans have participated in those things, furthering the goals of PNAC and the plutonomy.

time we publicize those distortions:

hey all, here are more fractured facts and polls to explain when they steal it again!

keeps hoping Obama will take his job away, but thus far he's been disappointed.

Back when I took statistics that was less than a majority.

Another bullshit poll to fit the pre-packed narrative of the big box media. What complete shit.

The article says...



They think that because the media keeps telling them so. And thus we see why articles like this one are campaigning for an outcome, rather than actually reporting.

"Americans by a large majority believe President Barack Obama has not focused enough on job creation

...

It found that 67 percent of poll respondents said Obama has not focused enough on job creation compared to healthcare and regulation of banks. Obama has argued that those reforms are vital building blocks to a strong economic recovery."

Neither party can do much. The Republican Free Trade Policies
created the job losses which remain. The economy has recovered
and the jobs have been created that were the result of the
'recession.

The joblessness remaining is the result of globalization and
poorly in fact not managed Free Trade. Neither party wants
to admit to the free trade part, because Wall Street swill
go into fits. They will continue to hemmorrhage jobs--outsourcing.

Could it be it is the Conservatives who finally pull free
from the Neocons and change Trade Policies, get us of the
these unending wars and foreign entanglements. Stranger
things have happened. The DLC and New Democrats will be
doing their conservative hand wringing. Just a thought.

The financial media keeps saying 1 to 3 trillion in cash is sitting on the sidelines. So, why aren't the rich creating jobs with all that money? Perhaps they don't see it as a good business plan to hire unnecessary employees just to burn up their extra cash. In fact, when they see more economic activity (= increased consumer spending), they will hire employees with borrowed money because they expect each employee to generate more revenue than the costs for hiring.

It's all about Other People's Money (OPM). Businesspeople will hire workers with OPM (borrowed)when they see other people with money (consumers) from whom they can extract the money.

But it's easier to say, "Cut taxes!" And the simple-minded will think it makes sense.

If you look at all the numbers they report it's obvious that they chose to lead with the one that looks worse for Obama than any other result. Total hack job.

never could see that one coming

I'm sad we don't have anyone good to challenge these decisions or lack of them.

But who cares? Let the Republicans win. Glenn Beck said so.

is why the economy sucks.

except inject a much larger stimulus, which the Republicans ( and some Democrats) will fight tooth and nail. Personally, I think our country is screwed and our children are screwed. The jobs have gone overseas and won't be coming back. Decent paying jobs are gone and won't be coming back. It's taken 2 decades to get to this point, and I don't hold out high hopes that it's going to improve anytime soon. The politicians are in the pockets of the mammoth monolithic corporations. Globalization will continue to erode our standard of living, at least for those in the working/middle class.

system would have created a new wave of entrepreneurs in this country that started new business's and created more jobs. As it is right now the big Corporations can horde the talent and the talent in those organizations is stuck to work for big company A or B. Many of the Engineers I know see lots of innovation and new services they would like to create start-ups for. However, who can leave work and go without health care for 5-10 years, along with their families while they get things going? It is too risky. The company I work for has outsourced to at least 4 countries, all 4 have universal health care.

The foundation of future high tech manufacturing. Why is he the only guy I've heard who makes sense on jobs? Sad.

In my humble opinion. I think that people react to really what is freshest in their mind, especially for things that affect them the most, like the economy. If the Obama administration can focus on Jobs during the time when people are deciding who to vote for, it might really help them instead of a "what have you done for me lately?" perspective.

One other thing that I was just thinking about was that I saw on the Rachel Maddow show about how some Chamber of Commerce (can't remember the exact name) was spending millions of dollars a week on negating any good news that the Obama administration produces. She made a great analogy of how, if a team won the world series, but the message sent out was that the world series was a worthless, outdated title and the team was a bunch of bums, it would kill the victory. Sure, a team won the world series, but it would be an empty victory. My question is why can't we do the same thing??!?! Better yet why don't we do it? Why is our messaging so weak? If we can somehow change this, our chances become much better.

In short, this is yet one more example of where the writing is on the wall, Obama needs to do one of the following:

a) Actually read and listen to the writing that is on the wall.
b) Get rid of the guys that are standing in front of the wall saying "Nothing to see here, move along".
c) Tell the guys that are keeping him from reading the message to go fuck off so that he can do the right thing.


It is Obama's game to lose.

Unfortunately, a government jobs program, similar to WPA and CCC, was ruled out. I doubt that a majority of Democrats would have voted for that. We all "know that it did not work under FDR" and "WW2 got us out of the depression.". That is the conventional wisdom. But, that is inacurate. So, we did not have that.
What we have is tinkering/dithering by a fractious majority; getting Dems to vote together is like herding cats.

We may have had misplaced priorities. Perhaps health care should not have come first.
The list of what needs to be done is very long. It is a judgement call as to what comes first or second.

to create jobs is not important...Again, where is the LIBERAL MEDIA?

Will the media force the Republicans to tell the American People how they plan to create jobs while reducing the deficit? Of course not! The American People will learn about it when they raise the retirement rate for SS and gut Medicare. Then the media will say WHO KNEW THEY WOULD DO THAT?

3.6 million jobs created so far because of the stimulus compared to 3.3 million jobs created during the entire eight years of the Bush* Administration.

The White house uses term "saved or created".

Obama currently has a negative job creation number.

Per BLS
Feb 2009 - 141,687,000 persons employed
Jun 2010 - 139,119,000 persons employed

Net job creation: -2.57 million jobs.

Still that is to be expected, not really his fault. Still he has turned the corner. The low was Dec 2009 (w/ 137,792,000 persons employed).

part of the reason is the Repubs wouldn't let him. The horrible part is that Repugs are the main reason our job situation is so dismal. The U.S. voter is going to put them back in the driver's seat? How sad and stupid is that.

What the voters need to do is pressure the President and the Congress to create jobs. The people could work with the Dems much more than the Reps, imo. Why don't people just demand green jobs? Instead the whine about other things and threaten to put the horrible Reps back in power. This country is messed up.

About many industries and corporations sitting on tons of money and that they may start spending it and expanding here in the near future. I heard the average they were saving was around 43% of their profits instead of the normal way of doing business like new product development, expanding and upgrading.

43% is a lot of jobs!

I think big business doesn't want to play nice with Obama like they did with Clinton. It does give that impression.

Get out the base and confront folks with a simple counterfactual: what would be happening right now with a Republican majority?

In a midterm election, voter registration and GOTV is more important than ever. The experience gained by local activists in the last ten years will shock the mainstream media pundits.

toward those who voted against them. They could have aided the economy greatly by pushing a liberal agenda of WPA type programs (building schools, a National high speed rail, green energy development, improving infrastructure, etc), raised taxes on the uber rich, and ended the two wars of choice...but they chose not to. They didn't even try. Repugs love batshit looney, greedy, hateful, bigoted warmongerers so of course they'll come out in droves for their candidates. They have representatives. All we're asking for is what we were promised prior to the 2006 elections; Representatives who represent us and who will fight for change, not the status quo.