Several weeks ago, President Barack Obama and his political inner circle launched a wide-ranging media blitz designed to promote public support for the chief executive’s economic policies, particularly his $3.6 trillion 2010 budget, with its massive deficits for the next decade.
A look at the latest Gallup Survey results reveals just how effective the Obama budget blitz has been. On Feb. 27, just before the blitz started, Gallup asked survey respondents this question: “From what you know or have heard about Barack Obama’s budget plan, is your impression of it generally positive or generally negative, or don’t you know enough to say?” The result was 44 percent saying they have a positive view.
And what was the result this week, almost exactly one month later, following three weeks of intense political bitzing that included a presidential news conference, an appearance on Jay Leno’s late-night show, a 60 Minutes interview, multiple interviews with regional media outlets, personal lobbying of congressmen by the president, Democratic National Committee and third-party advertising and grass-roots work to rally the troops, and generally sympathetic coverage in mainstream media?
Support for the Obama budget dropped to 39 percent. Go into the numbers and you find that the biggest drop in support came among liberals, with a nine point decrease, then moderates at eight points. For Democrats and Independents, the decrease was five points.
Compare those results with the lead of the Gallup release written Lymari Morales describing the survey:
“While lawmakers on Capitol Hill battle back and forth over President Barack Obama’s proposed budget plan, Americans’ views are holding steady. Four in 10 have a positive impression of the plan and just over a quarter have a negative impression — hardly changed from views expressed a month ago. A third still don’t know enough about the budget to have formed an opinion either way.”
Huh?
In vivid contrast to the public’s declining support, the latest National Journal Congressional Insiders Poll finds very strong support for the Obama budget, with fully 84 percent of the Members surveyed saying they expect “something very close” to the White House proposal to be adopted.
Check out some of the comments National Journal received from those respondents, all of wom are either in the Senate or the House, represent both political parties and are considered to be among the key influencers in each chamber:
“We need to send a message that we are willing to make bold decisions, and that some issues cannot wait.”
“Deficit reduction should not be the plan in the middle of a depression — as Roosevelt proved in 1936. We will make the necessary changes to cut the deficit after we get out of the ditch. Growth will help us out of the deficit.”
“There’s no reason to delay debates on education, health care, energy, etc. Having these discussions in the context of public anxiety over red ink will hopefully help us modernize policy and reduce costs.”
So sharp a divergence between the views of the general public and their represenatatives in Congress suggests that somebody is either not listening or is asleep at the wheel.
— Mark Tapscott, Examiner editorial page editor
