Obama Says Race May Blunt Poll Standing in Interview

[Purveyor]

By Brian Wingfield - Jan 20, 2014

President Barack Obama said racial tensions may partially explain his declining popularity among white voters, according to a story in the New Yorker magazine this week.

“There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black president,” Obama said in the article by David Remnick, which was posted on the publication’s website yesterday and appears in the magazine’s Jan. 27 edition.

“Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black president,” Obama said in his most direct comments on how race has affected his political standing since he’s been in office.

In a series of interviews with the New Yorker, Obama reflected on a range of issues including head injuries in professional football, the legalization of marijuana in some states as well as his place in history. As he prepares for his State of the Union address scheduled for Jan. 28, the president is seeking to overcome recent controversies such as the troubled rollout of health-insurance expansion and revelations that the National Security Agency has gathered personal mobile phone data.

Gallup Poll

Obama’s approval rating among all voters is 39 percent and his disapproval rating is 53 percent, according to a Gallup Poll conducted Jan. 14-16. In the 2012 presidential election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney won 59 percent of the white vote, compared with Obama’s 39 percent, according to exit polling by a consortium of major news outlets. Obama won 43 percent of the white vote in 2008 against 55 percent for opponent John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-20/obama-says-race-may-blunt-poll-standing-in-interview.html

[Arkana]

1. Gallup sucks, and Obama's not wrong.

Look for the right to go batshit though.

[YoungDemCA]

2. "Do you approve of President Obama's job in office?" is not an inherently ideological question

There are plenty of people all over the political spectrum who take issue with at least one or a few aspects of President Obama's administration-just like with every President before.

The polls don't tell the whole story-not by a long shot.

[ailsagirl]

3. They really don't n/t

[joshcryer]

4. No fucking shit.

The fact that he can't be a hardliner because it'd make him an "angry black man" and taint the Democratic Party image is even worse. But people don't appreciate that facet of American racism.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. I have a hard time believing

That race isn't at least a minor contributing factor to some people's evaluation oh him. His election seems to have exposed a particularly nasty side of the GOP as well.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

7. I would go further beyond "minor". I would assert that his race is a major factor. Not all of it...

...but a major factor in explaining unprecedented obstruction on the part of Republicans, but also in the liberal community as well, as far as double standards and liberal "purity tests". I truly think race is a major factor, whether we realize it or not; whether we choose to admit it or not; and/or whether that racism is expressed in an explicit or implicit/subconscious manner.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

12. I agree, to a certain extent. However, I also believe that there is an interesting strain of

racism within the realm of liberalism that is often dismissed. The subject has been discussed here on DU from time to time, but far too complex for me to rehash in just a few sentences. Very interesting, though.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. Even otherwise enlightened people have their own "blind spots"

n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. "May"?

[karynnj]

8. I suspect the numbers have fallen for one reason - he is not running for election again

This means that the Democratic leaning people in the MSM, who might have reflexively supported him before last November don't. There is actually more support and defense of Hillary Clinton. More significantly, I think many on the left are willing to "disapprove" in polls due to NSA, Snowden, drones etc.

The other thing is that the media coverage on ACA focused far more on the problems -- ignoring the fact that many who never were insured are now. On the economy, the part of the economy that affects the upper middle class and upper class is doing better -- but many of the beneficiaries are Republican. Many are still struggling - with no job or a job that pays less than they had.

On foreign policy, our relationship with Iran is potentially on the verge of change and we (with Russia) got chemical weapons out of Syria. Both major accomplishments -- neither helping Obama.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. My only concern with his poll numbers

is that they could potentially negatively affect the next Democratic candidate (i.e. "Obama fatigue&quot and encourage people to vote in another Republican- though it's not like anything Obama has done reaches "W" level of incompetence and harm (how many people did Healthcare.gov's failures kill?) and the MSM (as usual) has continued to spin and blow up his "problems" well beyond any semblance of reality. Of course, whenever there's news out about President Obama's poll numbers, there's no simultaneous broadcasting about the Republicans' poll numbers, which are awful compared with President Obama's by any measure and, what's worse, the GOP is essentially rudderless and seems to exist to reflexively oppose President Obama (and the next Democratic POTUS after him).

[polichick]

11. Well, I'm glad he's feeling comfortable enough to talk about this...

It's been shocking to see how rabid racism still is in this country.