Could Obama's record on civil liberties, privacy, and mass surveillance hurt Democrats in elections?

[limpyhobbler]

Anybody worried that Obama's policies in these areas could turn some voters off? Possibly doing some long term damage to the "brand" or "image" of the Democrats?

I think it's something we should worry about. A lot of younger voters especially might get kind of turned off by these policies. I worry younger voters might turn to the Ron Paul clique if Democrats support a war on liberty and privacy.

Consider this recent polling info:

In Wake of Surveillance Stories, Barack Obama’s Poll Numbers Plummet

Younger voters and independents have soured significantly on the president in the last month

That’s the clear conclusion of a new CNN/Opinion Research poll (PDF) showing the government-surveillance scandals taking a real toll on the president’s popularity—particularly with the younger voters who have been among his staunchest supporters. In just one month, support for the president among voters under age 30 plummeted by 17 points.

Perhaps the most devastating poll number, though, is the reversal of perception on what has been one of this president’s core characteristics: honesty and trustworthiness. Around three in five voters have consistently seen Obama possessing these traits, meaning that even voters who didn’t approve of his job performance saw him as an essentially honest guy and a trustworthy chief executive. No more. On this measure, too, the president is underwater at 49 percent—a nine-point drop.

Political independents are also souring on Obama, with just 37 percent approving of his job performance, a 10-point drop. But because the independent voter cohort has moved right in the wake of the Tea Party movement, we see a continued split between independents and self-described moderate voters, 53 percent of whom still approve of the job the president is doing. The support of centrist voters is President Obama’s life preserver, stopping him from going underwater entirely.
...

(source)


Should the Democrats maybe consider changing their policies when it comes to building a gigantic secret library of everybody's communications? I'm thinking yes.

Also could Obama's policies actually shatter some Americans' confidence in government generally, making it more difficult to do our other policy goals in areas like health care, pensions, jobs, etc. ?

Seems like that could happen.

[graham4anything]

1. Imagine what would happen if all the Ron Paul voters did not vote for Hillary in 2016

it would be, ah nothing at all.

Ron Paul voters do NOT vote for democratic party at any time, ever.

The 80-20 is coming, and I feel fine.

Of course, the smear of the week is to attempt to have Mass. go to Gomez instead of Markey

So, are the protesters going to let Markey lose on purpose and throw another election like they did in 2010 just to prove
what exactly?

If the President danced 100% of what Ron/Rand Paul said, would ONE Ron/Rand Paul BushPaulfamilyinc. voter vote for them? Hell no.


my signature should be I do NOT stand with/for/or alongside Rand.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Not when you consider the alternative.

How bout a Santorum/Palin ticket?

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Our State and local Democrats are not centrists like Obama

Nor are they echoing his hyper security Cheney like paranoia.