Tuesday, November 19, 2013
ABC Poll Suggests Obamacare Could Have Cost Obama A Second Term
This article is really similar to the other one that I posted earlier. This one focuses on how if the 2012 Presidential Election had been held today, Mitt Romney would have won, not Obama. Additionally, the article talks about how support for Obamacare has dropped since the launching of the HealthCare.gov website and how the failure to launch this website smoothly has influenced Obama's declining approval ratings and, as a result, could potentially influence next year's election as all 435 House seats and over a third of the Senate seats are up for grabs.
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In class we have discussed how a president's second term is notoriously more difficult, and we are definitely seeing this with Obama now. Although Obama has a very low approval rating now, I think that he should be able to recover depending on how this Obamacare issue resolves. Although it is interesting, it doesn't really mean anything to me that Romney would have won if the election were this year, because in reality the election was last year and Obama won, not Romney.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting. The statistic obviously means nothing, but I had not realized that America's view on President Obama had changed to the point that they would elect Mitt Romney. I truly hope President Obama's approval rating recovers. I'd hate to see this issue tarnish America's view of him just one year into his second four year term.
ReplyDeleteI think that Obama is feeling a lot more freedom now that he's in his last term and doesn't have to worry about being reelected. Because of this, he's promoting legislature and all that geared more to accomplishing what he wants. I personally support him often, but I can really imagine and understand why someone less supportive of his efforts would be frustrated. I think his second term will prove very influential.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama's approval ratings have plunged this much, than it must mean that he's losing the support from his own party. At such a crucial time in the world Obama can't afford for this to happen. The democrats are going to have a lot of pressure on them to do well in the midterm elections in order to regain some momentum on their side, but doing so is looking less likely with each day the ACA struggles.
ReplyDeleteI think people always need someone to blame and it usually ends up being the president. Obviously the roll out of Obamacare was highly unsuccessful and there have been many problems, but I don't think the low approval ratings are surprising. Like we talked about in class, presidents usually drop in their approval ratings during their second term and to have a good legacy, they should really stop at one term.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yarrow, I am not at all surprised by this article. I think people love to bash the president. But I don't think that a president should just stop at one term to avoid dropping approval rates. Some of the most most influential things a president will try to do may be in his second term because he isn't worried about reelection, as Dean said and he doesn't have the experience necessary to do them in his first term.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Noelle and Dean about how Obama is more open now to promoting new legislation now that he in his second term. I think this is a good thing though. I would rather have a president that takes risks in order to better the American public than one that does nothing during either of his terms in order to keep up his approval rate. I also think the only reason the statistics show that the race would be a lot closer now than last year and more people would want to elect Romney is because they're frustrated. Obviously Romney hasn't had the job as president and hasn't had to make any choices so the polls are only going off of Obama's actions and therefore don't really mean that much to me.
ReplyDeleteI find it pointless for this article to say that possibily Obama could have lost the previous election. Not surprisingly, in their second term and even in some Presidents' first term, there are people that disagree with what he has done or is trying to do. But by saying that because of his lowest approval rating to date, that possibly Romney could have won is a joke. Of course Romney could have own, but he didn't. There is a lot more that goes into an election other than just the popular vote.
ReplyDeleteI find it pointless for this article to say that possibily Obama could have lost the previous election. Not surprisingly, in their second term and even in some Presidents' first term, there are people that disagree with what he has done or is trying to do. But by saying that because of his lowest approval rating to date, that possibly Romney could have won is a joke. Of course Romney could have own, but he didn't. There is a lot more that goes into an election other than just the popular vote.
ReplyDeleteTo say that Obamacare could have cost Obama his second term,i believe, is an unfair statement. During the 2012 elections, no one had any idea how the ACA would turn out and could not make their decisions based on what we know now. Seeing as to how most people can't see into the future, it is ridiculous to say that the ACA could have cost Obama his election, because no one can predict how events would have transpired if the Act went into effect a year earlier. Obama's statements regarding his failure to be shocking, because it is always an anomaly when politicians actually take responsibility for their shortcomings and shoulder the blame when it is theirs to shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Casey that presidents should be willing to take risks to pass progressive legislation. Since it it his second term, Obama is able to focus more on the issue of the Affordable Healthcare Act instead of just the issues that will get him reelected. That is why it seems irrelevant to me that the article says Obama would lose if the election was now. The election was last year, and that is why the focus is being put on the ACA now.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame to see how much President Obama's approval ratings lowering, but because the health care website rollout issues are still fresh in everyone's minds it is not a surprise. However, I do not think just because Obama's approval ratings are lowering that it is logical to say Romney would win an election between the two of them right now. If Romney were to have won in last years election he could have very well lost just as much support as Obama has. It is not fair to say that Romney would win now based solely on Obama's mistakes.
ReplyDeleteA presidents approval ratings are always worse if they serve a second term. People are going to find a way to be unhappy and blame the president no matter their political affiliation. With a controversial health care plan and a government shutdown, people are going to be upset. And if you're upset wit your country, you are likely to blame the figure head of your country. Or in our case, the president. It is better the president is taking some risks then doing nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic case where the 2nd term of a President shows great drop in approval ratings. Obama has no pressure to appease the voting public, so he pushes for ideas he truly supports, this being the so far unsuccessful Obamacare. If things aren't going well of course ratings will plummet, that's what happens when people are unhappy with the way things are being done in DC.
ReplyDeleteI find this article to be interesting, but also somewhat pointless. Presidents' approval ratings always go down in their second term, for they are always the ones to be blamed for the problems which in this case were caused by Republicans in Congress. I agree with Christina's statement that it's unfair to say Romney would win simply based on Obama's mistakes. Obama won when he won; it's time to move on and focus about current issues.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess at least this news has some spin off of the debate over healthcare, not just more “new” insight on the heated debates. I definitely am siding with Yarrow on this one; the president is typically the go-to criminal for dysfunction in the government since he's such an easy target, so given the recent issues, this trend isn't surprising at all. It has been a common theme in our history that the second term is not as successful as the first. Maybe future presidents should all just go the James Polk route.
ReplyDeleteIt's very common for the presidents approval ratings to drop in his second term, as the article pointed out it happened with previous presidents as well. It's an interesting parallel drawn between Bush's second term and Obama's in regard with their approval ratings. In reality, though I don't think it really matters that Romney would've won the election if it were current because at this point it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteWe have talked about how approval ratings typically go down during a president's second term and with Obamacare, it has been no different for our current president. However, I think that it is a little pointless to speculate who would have won the election today because it is already done with. No president is perfect and hopefully Obama can rebound in the near future.
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