President Barack Obama is so unpopular among the electorate that the White House is reportedly letting Democrats know there will be no ramifications if they run against Obama.
According to a CNN report, “understanding full well Obama’s unpopularity is a drag on some Democrats in tight congressional races, White House officials are signaling to party leaders and campaign managers alike there will be no consequences should they run away from the president in order to win.”
Democrats in battleground states are running away from Obama. For instance, Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, a former Obama delegate, has refused to say on multiple occasions whether she voted for him.
Even Charlie Crist, who recently became a Democrat after his embrace with Obama, contributed to his GOP Senate primary loss to Marco Rubio in 2010, is reportedly “now wary of inviting” Obama “to publicly appear with him out of concern that it would shift the focus of the race to national issues,” according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Before Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for Crist, the gubernatorial candidate, this week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott poked fun at the report, saying that he hoped “President Obama can make a trip to the Sunshine State soon to see the results of our pro-growth policies – even if he is not invited on the campaign trail with Charlie Crist.”
A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg poll found that an an Obama endorsement would actually “leave a more negative view of a congressional or Senate candidate, with 38 percent saying they would see a candidate less favorably, compared with just 28 percent who would have a more favorable view after a presidential endorsement.”
Obama hasn’t made any campaign appearances this election cycle, but he is expected to stump for Maryland gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn this weekend.
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