Sorry Mr. President, the party is over. Less than two weeks after Osama Bin Laden was killed by a squad of hero Navy Seals, the bump in Obama’s ratings has disappeared, in fact the latest Rasmussen poll shows that some of his numbers are worse than before.
For example the chart below reflects the President’s approval index from the day the Bin Laden news was released though today. Approval index represents the people who strongly approve of the President’s performance minus the people who strongly disapprove. So it is an indication of the people most passionate about President’s performance, these are the people who are most likely to work toward/against Re-election of the present POTUS.
Keep in mind, the Bin Laden news was released well after the May 2nd sample was taken and released. Rasmussen numbers reflect three days sampling ending with the day prior to the numbers being released so, for example for the May 4th numbers only one third of the sample was questioned after the Bin Laden death was reported. It was not until May 6th that the entire sample had the possibility of being aware of the death of Bin Laden.
On May 2nd, the day Bin Laden was killed the President’s approval index was at a -12. From there it generally rose through May 7th, and started falling through today’s report which shows him back at a -12.
Overall approval and disapproval numbers show the same pattern.
Prior to Bin Laden’s trip to hell, Rasmussen reported that President’s overall approval/disapproval numbers were both at 49%, today his disapproval stands at 52% and approval stands at 48%
What should be even more troubling to the President should be the fact that his numbers among independents are not promising (the Oth column in the chart below boxed in red)
Among independents, the president’s approval index is at a minus 22, and almost 70% of independents believe that the country is on the wrong track.
Over-all President Obama received (and frankly deserved) an approval bounce based on the Navy Seals heroic action eliminating Osama Bin Laden as a threat to this country. As the saying all good things must pass, but nobody expected things to pass so quickly.
But this is a nation which is on the precipice of a financial abyss. As soon as the joy that Bin Laden is no longer a threat passed, the weekly new unemployment claims figure shot up and the monthly unemployment percentage rose back to 9%. These number shocked America out of its post Bin Laden euphoria and back into the reality that Barack Obama has mis-handled the economy. Look for his numbers to continue to fall as long as the economy continues to falter.
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