When rhetoric doesn't match polling -- President Obama

[Lenonis]

There is an enormous amount of discussion and rhetoric in US politics about Obama. He's a tyrant, he's weak, he's too divisive, he's too conciliatory...so on and so on.

He's hated by the right with a shocking passion -- the level of disrespect shown him has surpassed just about any other president. He's also not terribly loved by a large swath of the left. Considered too right wing and too contrary to his campaign promises.

However, his approval rating have been hovering around 50% -- which is absolutely remarkable for a 2nd term president.

Why is that? Why is the media and general tone (from what I can see) fairly negative about Obama, but his approval rating claims about half of the people think he's doing a good job.

What am I missing?

Love him or hate him, I'm curious as to why you think Obama's approval ratings appear to be so out of line with the conversation -- or perhaps I'm in a bubble that's a bit more negative than the rest of the country?

[GennGreymane]

Honestly hes a fairly alright president. Just by lookin at numbers alone, I also dont watch T.V news.

hes a weak, too powerful dictator, communist, welfare, wall street loving, fascist, Kenyan


I also think Nixon is one of our better presidents even though I hate what atrocities he did in Laos and Cambodia.

[Vanyali]

I'd wager part of it is that no matter how much people froth about him.. they hate congress more.

[Kujako]

What I love is when Obama is simultaneously accused of being a tyrant abusing presidential authority, and of being an inactive "do nothing" president.

[Lenonis]

I'd wager part of it is that no matter how much people froth about him.. they hate congress more.

Yes. Congress' approval ratings make baby jesus cry.

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What I love is when Obama is simultaneously accused of being a tyrant abusing presidential authority, and of being an inactive "do nothing" president.

I chose my comments for a reason.

The fact that those are levied against him nearly simultaneously goes to show how vocal the people who don't like him are.

[Scathbais]

What I love is when Obama is simultaneously accused of being a tyrant abusing presidential authority, and of being an inactive "do nothing" president.

Don't love it...feel sad and feel afraid.

What we have is a president who is a tyrant on domestic policy yet on foreign policy is weak, hesitant, reluctant, naive, gullible and worst of all, can't see evil for what it is and danger when it is staring him in the face.

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Honestly hes a fairly alright president. Just by lookin at numbers alone, I also dont watch T.V news.

hes a weak, too powerful dictator, communist, welfare, wall street loving, fascist, Kenyan


I also think Nixon is one of our better presidents even though I hate what atrocities he did in Laos and Cambodia.

His "atrocities" pale in comparison to what the Khmer Rouge did to millions of their own nation after we pulled out of Vietnam. Atrocities indeed.

[Deleted]

Yes. Congress' approval ratings make baby jesus cry.

I looked up Congress approval rating. that's just ABYSMAL...

for comparison: In Saint's Row 4, you're the president of the USA. At the start of the game, your approval rating has plummeted because you literally said the Pledge of Allegiance should be about you, not God. You've placed stripper poles in the white house, won't get married, employment is at an all-time low, there are even references to Apartheid in the game. and STILL your approval rate in this game is better than that of congress.

[Lenonis]

I looked up Congress approval rating. that's just ABYSMAL...

for comparison: In Saint's Row 4, you're the president of the USA. At the start of the game, your approval rating has plummeted because you literally said the Pledge of Allegiance should be about you, not God. You've placed stripper poles in the white house, won't get married, employment is at an all-time low, there are even references to Apartheid in the game. and STILL your approval rate in this game is better than that of congress.

The main reason this exists is the phenomenon people have with Congress where they tend to love their congressperson but hate the body as a whole. So they disapprove of the job Congress is doing but still re-elect their representative time after time. It's a BIG problem.

[Deleted]

The president's approval ratings stay high because he is constantly in campaign mode, as if he has nothing to do with the current situation, but is now here to fix it. Whatever the problem of the day is.

[Kraenen]

His "atrocities" pale in comparison to what the Khmer Rouge did to millions of their own nation after we pulled out of Vietnam. Atrocities indeed.

Still atrocities. You can play your game until nothing except the single worst thing in history is an atrocity.

[taliey]

When you get accused of everything and its opposite, you can conclude one thing.

That the people making the complaints don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Can they at least keep their bullshit straight?

Also, complimentary Bill Maher:

[Beazy]

Even if everything people say about Obama was true.

Still better than Bush.

Man that guy was a moron, Bush might be the only president that let his cabinet run the country while he played with his weenie for eight years. I don't even hate Bush. . . that's just impressive. He like. . . outsourced the presidency. /jackiechanmeeme

[Lenonis]

Still better than Bush.

Do you think that's still in play even six years out? Or is it because things were in such shambles when Obama took office it's held his approval ratings up?

Either way that doesn't bode even remotely well for Jeb.

[Independent voter]

The economy is doing very well, there's a lot of correlation between a presidents ratings and the economy.

[Lenonis]

The economy is doing very well

Is it? I mean, unemployment is going down and that's good, but wages are stagnant and that's bad. Plus the amount of people who have dropped out of the workforce is high and that's not great either.

I guess it's doing better than before, and that's likely what matters when it comes to approval.

[Kaleredar]

Because he hasn't catastrophically fucked up?


With the last guy we had in office, that's now the bar to be a "decent" president. "Don't take a budget surplus and tank it, don't embroil us in a decades-long war, and don't crash the economy, and you're doing okay." I mean hell, everyone was ragging on Clinton back when he was president... looking back, Clinton seems to have been doing a pretty damn fine job.

[Mihalik]

Is it? I mean, unemployment is going down and that's good, but wages are stagnant and that's bad. Plus the amount of people who have dropped out of the workforce is high and that's not great either.

I guess it's doing better than before, and that's likely what matters when it comes to approval.

Compared to how the economy looked like during the last years of the Bush presidency, yes the economy is doing well. Many of the issues with the economy are actually out the control of the executive. There are still people in the US who are aware Congresses controls over everything from spending to policy issues.

The Bush era set the bar so low, that anything with a body temperature would be considered better than that.

Also Congress is shit and the Republicans are coo-coo for cocoa puffs.

[Lenonis]

There are still people in the US who are aware Congresses control over everything from spending to policy issues.

Are there? Cause I hardly find any these days and it makes me soooooo maaaaaaaaad.

[Mihalik]

Are there? Cause I hardly find any these days and it makes me soooooo maaaaaaaaad.

Yeah, you just won't find them in a Youtube/Faux News/WaPo comment section, which in turn creates the perception that you are an island of sanity in a sea of undiluted crazy.

[Fullmetal89]

There is an enormous amount of discussion and rhetoric in US politics about Obama. He's a tyrant, he's weak, he's too divisive, he's too conciliatory...so on and so on.

He's hated by the right with a shocking passion -- the level of disrespect shown him has surpassed just about any other president. He's also not terribly loved by a large swath of the left. Considered too right wing and too contrary to his campaign promises.

However, his approval rating have been hovering around 50% -- which is absolutely remarkable for a 2nd term president.

Why is that? Why is the media and general tone (from what I can see) fairly negative about Obama, but his approval rating claims about half of the people think he's doing a good job.

What am I missing?

Love him or hate him, I'm curious as to why you think Obama's approval ratings appear to be so out of line with the conversation -- or perhaps I'm in a bubble that's a bit more negative than the rest of the country?

Are you shitting me? I'm pretty sure the most disrespected President in history is George W. Bush. I mean, people wanted his head on a pike and arrested for war crimes and other nonsense. He was harassed by the media on all sides even Fox news lol.

Not saying he didn't deserve it but let's be real here. Pres Obama gets a lot of flack from the right, true; and some from the left, also true. Yet he still has overwhelming support from most media outlets and the vast swath of liberal high rollers in Hollywood.