Jay Cost | Memo to the Media: Obama Is Not Popular!
On Tuesday, MSNBC’s First Read posed this question:
Did last week’s speech backfire? A new Washington Post/ABC poll…seems to confirm that the president’s speech last week might not have played well. For one thing, and this is true going back to the ’08 campaign, Obama usually doesn’t get rewarded when he comes off as too partisan (even though the left loves it). More importantly, last week’s speech was on a topic — the deficit/debt — that most Americans don’t find as important as the economy/jobs. And in the Post/ABC poll, Obama took a hit with independents, with 55% of them disapproving of his job.
This is a great example of the myopia of the mainstream media. First, presidential speeches like this almost never move public opinion.
The second reason will come as surprise to many journalists and pundits in the mainstream media. I hope they’re sitting down for this one:
President Obama is not popular. He has not been popular for a very long time. Why should a single speech be expected to move a needle that hasn’t budged in a year?
More.
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