http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/is-the-economy-saving-obamas-approval-ratings/
In the article "Is the Economy Saving Obama's Approval Rates?" it talks about how the overall and economic approval rates of Obama have had almost no change during his presidency, even with all of the controversies going on in the country right now. In the Washington Post polls for economic approval the ratings have been a bit lower based on how the voters rate Obama on the economy. Also the overall approval ratings for Obama have also gone down a little bit, possibly because of all the talk around Benghazi, the I.R.S. and the Justice Department, which had a negative impact.
Based on what you heard/read, what do you believe is the actual reason why Obama's ratings are becoming lower? Explain your opinion.
I think the approval ratings of the presidents usually go down as their term goes on due to the media's coverage of all of the negative things that builds up over time. Since the media is less likely to talk about the good stuff than the bad stuff since that is what catches people's attention, people are more likely to hear about and remember the bad things that happen during a presidency. For example, some of the issues currently bringing down Obama's approval rating are the Benghazi issue, which started in his previous term and the current issue of the I.R.S. performing extra scrutiny on conservative groups.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ford, amid all of the scandals and other negative things that the media is constantly broadcasting, his approval ratings were bound to slowly lower because the politicians are trying to think if he had a role in these scandals or if he and his cabinet are oblivious. These government officials are not happy with his actions of late and are beginning to loses faith in his ability to run a successful government.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that Obama's approval rating are going down because people haven't seen a large amount of change in the economy. Although it's much better than it was in 2008, people want things instantly. People want the economy to be perfect in days when in reality, it could take years. Also, I agree with Ford; the media is always broadcasting the negative and that reflects on Obama since he is the president. All of the other issues going on in the United States and the world are blamed on Obama so it would make sense if that were part of the reason his ratings are going down.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Ford, the media only projects the negative events that happen, so people only see that. They don't realize all the good that has occured while President Obama has been in office. I also strongly agree with David on the fact that the American people want things quickly, like the economy being fixed. The problem with this is that everything takes time. The economy had a very large decline, which effected America largely, and you can't just bounce back from that. You have to rebuild, and during President Obama's time in office the economy has improved. Obama is who we see as the source of blame for all the bad things, which could be the cause to why the ratings have gone down some. But Obama can only do so much, which people don't understand or see. People see Obama at fault for the negative things, which would cause a decrease in his ratings since the people aren't satisfied with the place America is in right now.
ReplyDeleteSince bad stuff catches the peoples eyes rather than good things about the president, approval rates deffinetely are more bound to go down. The economy is most likely the cause of this as well because it is in a bad state currently and people have not seen a change. People have not realized that fixing the economy is not as easy as they think and it is going to take a while. With everything wrong with the economy, Obama has done a lot to help but people have not focused on the positive things he has done to help it. Agreeing with Danielle, people see Obama at fault for the negatives that have occurred, which cause a decrease in his approval ratings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the people before me because the president's approval rate will go down based on the bad things that the media will mostly cover. I also think that it is nearly impossible for a president to get a great approval rating unless the president does something heroic. This can be seen by the spike in Obama's approval rating when Bin Laden was killed. I would be curious to see Obama's approval rating before the election because I would expect nearly all democrats to give him a positive rating and nearly all republicans to give him a negative rating. As far as the economy goes, I think that ratings are based too much on the short term. Obama could do something that makes the economy great for three years but then it could crash. I think that to rate the economy under Obama, one has to wait about fifteen years, and see how the economy is then.
ReplyDeleteI think that people are blaming Obama for things that were caused in the past, yet he is working hard to fix. There are some things that he came into office facing, that cannot possibly be fixed overnight. I feel like people are simply getting impatient in a way, and expecting so much to just happen and get better, when he is trying to do so as fast as he can to the best of his ability. Being the President is not an easy job, so I think that some people just are not seeing that fact.
ReplyDeleteI highly agree with Sasha. President Obama was thrown into office in the wake of the chaos that the former president, George W. Bush created. The country has been left in shambles and everyone thought Obama would be the savior. While he is working hard and has done a lot to try and fix the country, One man cannot fix everything over night. The people of America expected everything to be fixed immediately and now that it is taking longer than expected, everyone thinks he is a bad president. I would love to see these people fix the country in a day.
ReplyDeleteI think there are many reasons why Obama's approval ratings have gone down. When He was first elected into office, it was during a very rough time and he caused a lot of uplift and "hope" in people for this country to rise and becomes a stronger nation. As time has gone on, though, he hasn't done much to actually better this country in drastic ways. He was the president who successfully killed Bin Laden which was successful, and he created universal healthcare. But the Obama Care in my personal opinion has not done much to benefit the people. It mainly just distributes and low quality health care to everyone. Also, There controversies are very suspicious and for the people that follow the scandals, one can make it clear that Obama has not been able to give Americans the answers that they want when it comes to Benghazi, the IRS and the justice Department. The national debt has almost doubled in the past 3 and a half years he has been the president which proves that something is not being followed through. Of course he was put in a tough position as the president of this country, but I can definitely see these to be just a few of the reasons his ratings have gone down.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Obama's approval rating went down because the people of the United States are unsatisfied with the job he is doing. He made a lot of promises during the election that he was unable to keep and has proved this through his actions. I think all of the controversial issues he has been involved in also has had an effect on his approval ratings. Even though the economy is taking a slightly upward turn it is still not completely fixed and I think a lot of Americans can see this. People are also using their personal political views to influence how they rate Obama not only in the overall approval rating but also in the economic approval ratings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Obama's approval rates went down because people are expecting him to improve the country a significant amount during a hard time. Our economy is struggling right now and the citizens probably expect him to fix the country a lot more than what he can. Four years is not enough time to fix world wide problems. I think that the media and other politicians have expectations for President Obama but do not realize the amount of work it takes to fix them. By providing health cares to citizens and the employment rate is decreases shows that President Obama is making an effort to help our country. If we compare the ratings to other President's it wouldn't be fair because the problems today have worsened extremely and require a lot more time to improve them.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Sasha. When Obama entered the office America did not have a good economic status. When you think about it, every president is piled on by each past presidents problems. When trying to be elected into presidency during an election, candidates tell the public what they will do to fix each enormous problem. The public imagine the plan the candidate proposed and keep that in mind throughout his term. But as others said above me, these problems can't be solve over night. But the longer the people have to wait to see change, the more loose hope in his success as president. The decrease in approval rate illustrates how many people have lost their hopes in the current president. I agree that the medias portrayal of the president highly displays what the president has yet to do, compared to what he has actually accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason his approval ratings have gone down is a combination of what all people have said so far. We have not seen a change on any large scale. People are waiting for the economy to instantly boom but don't realize how much time that may take. With Obama's second term in office, people were probably hoping for big change right off the bat, which obviously didn't happen. I also like what Ford said about the influence of the media. They will become more critical of Obama as time goes on, which will manipulate people a certain way.
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