New Polls Put Dems In A Panic

The latest ABC and NBC polls are out and the news is not good for the president and his party.

Democrats are in a panic. The prospect of losing control of the Senate is very real.

The president’s approval rating continues suffer at 44%. His upside down numbers stem from two major components of his administrative agenda: his foreign policy and Obamacare.

The president has been forced to spend a great deal of his time commenting on foreign policy issues. One thing that is certain in presidential politics…if you are talking about foreign affairs…you’re losing. Russian aggression, the Ukraine, Syria, Iran and the Middle East peace talks dominate the headlines. The American people want a president who is tough on foreign affairs. But at the same time they do not want to get involved in another Iraq or Afghanistan. Only 19% of those polled believe the president should be more aggressive on foreign policy issues while 47% want the country disengage from events outside our borders. The president has refused to insert the US into the affairs of these foreign nations. But his unwillingness to participate in the theater of foreign affairs, such engaging in tough talk with Putin, has made him appear weak in the eyes of the electorate. Obama has said publically he doesn’t do theater. You’ll hear no “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” from this White House. His reluctance has hurt him and his party with the voters.

The Affordable Care Act continues to be a political thorn in the side of the Democrats. While the popularity of the program has improved the approval rating has barely returned to the numbers published just before the website debacle. Tens of millions have taken advantage of the benefits of the program and the individual components are wildly popular with the electorate. But thanks to the misinformation campaign orchestrated by Republicans and certain media outlets the law hangs like a millstone around the necks of Democrats seeking re-election.

The number that scares Democrats the most is the “Right track, wrong track” number. 63% of those polled said that they feel like the country is on the wrong track. 63%! That is a huge number to overcome before the polls open in November.

With the mid-terms barely six months away, Democrats are willing to try anything to change the current downward spiral. Yesterday Harry Reid let it be known that the senate is considering taking up a vote on the Keystone Pipeline. As expected the notion that the pipeline was even being considered angered the Democrat base. Environmentalists are outraged. But the very real prospect of losing the senate has forced Reid to consider all options.

In the end the upcoming mid-terms will be all about turnout. Mid-term voters are historically smaller in number, whiter and older. If that trend continues this November the Republicans will control both the House and the Senate. Any chance of the president moving his agenda in the final two years of his presidency will be lost.