[Hoot Gibson]

Really, who are these people? 29 percent of likely voters strongly approve of the way Barack Obama is performing his role as president. I can understand partisan liberal Democrats approving of Obama's job performance - he is trying his best to break the current system and shape it into something entirely different - but I am having a hard time seeing how even liberals could possibly strongly support what he has done.

I am not sure that I would have responded to such a poll at any time during the Bush presidency by saying that I strongly supported his job performance. But with the national debt growing at more than twice the rate that it grew under Bush, with the unemployment rate stuck near 10 percent, with salaries in the private sector stagnating and benefits being cut, and with the war effort continuing but not going well - what is there for any group to strongly approve?

Please take the survey. To avoid any public humiliation of the 29 percenters, the poll is anonymous.

[INDENT]

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15 (see trends).

When tracking the president’s approval on a daily basis, people sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations that they miss the bigger picture. To look at the longer-term trends, Rasmussen Reports compiles the numbers on a full-month basis. For the full-month of September, the president’s ratings slipped a point to the lowest levels of his time in office.

[/INDENT]

[Stardust]

H'mm, fits another number related to population figures.

[nky]

H'mm, fits another number related to population figures.

You don't mean these people do you?
29% of the population believe climate change is occurring naturally
29 percent of the population like astrology
29 per cent of Japan's population believes that aliens walk among us(20% for US)
29 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the immigration issue

[BoondockSaint]

I know exactly the 29% you're referring to.

[nky]

29% who believe the CIA knew about the 9/11 attacks?

[nky]

or are they the hard core leftist who believe that Bush "stole" the 2000 election, was the worst president in the history of our country, who mocked the man any chance they could, said he knew about 9/11 because he wanted to get the US in a war with Iraq..........

Yet when anyone has a valid issue with the current administration -YOUR A RACIST. You mean that 29%

[Wildcatk23]

or are they the hard core leftist who believe that Bush "stole" the 2000 election, was the worst president in the history of our country, who mocked the man any chance they could, said he knew about 9/11 because he wanted to get the US in a war with Iraq..........

Yet when anyone has a valid issue with the current administration -YOUR A RACIST. You mean that 29%

I agree with all of that but the racist issue. IF anything Whites are the minority when it comes to racist issues anymore.

[Stardust]

or are they the hard core leftist who believe that Bush "stole" the 2000 election, was the worst president in the history of our country, who mocked the man any chance they could, said he knew about 9/11 because he wanted to get the US in a war with Iraq..........

Yet when anyone has a valid issue with the current administration -YOUR A RACIST. You mean that 29%

:worthy:

[BillyB]

Yeah, the 29 percenters are just so stupid. The vast majority of people don't strongly approve of anything!

[Hoot Gibson]

Yeah, the 29 percenters are just so stupid. The vast majority of people don't strongly approve of anything!

A politician needs to earn my strong approval. I will give them a "somewhat approve" or a "somewhat disapprove" rating if they are just heads and shoulders better than a very bad alternative. In Obama's case, that would have included almost everybody who sought the office, including Hillary.

[BillyB]

A politician needs to earn my strong approval. I will give them a "somewhat approve" or a "somewhat disapprove" rating if they are just heads and shoulders better than a very bad alternative. In Obama's case, that would have included almost everybody who sought the office, including Hillary.

That's 99% of the posters on this site. Which raises the question, what did you expect to get asking the question in this thread other than the "me too" responses?

[Hoot Gibson]

That's 99% of the posters on this site. Which raises the question, what did you expect to get asking the question in this thread other than the "me too" responses?

I know there are people who frequent this forum who strongly approve of the job that Barack Obama is doing because there are posts here in which they have defended every bone headed move that he has made. I was honestly hoping that one of you would explain how anybody but the First Lady could strongly approve of his performance, let alone 29% of likely voters. That number should even boggle the minds of most people who voted for the man. Can you explain it?

[BillyB]

I know there are people who frequent this forum who strongly approve of the job that Barack Obama is doing because there are posts here in which they have defended every bone headed move that he has made. I was honestly hoping that one of you would explain how anybody but the First Lady could strongly approve of his performance, let alone 29% of likely voters. That number should even boggle the minds of most people who voted for the man. Can you explain it?

No I can't. What does it even mean to say that you "strongly approve" -- or disapprove -- of what any politician does? On Obama, if you -- for example -- agree with him on healthcare but disagree on stimulus, do you "strongly agree" with him or "strongly disagree"? Is one more heavily weighted than the other? These polls are really just either party affiliation or general "mood of the country" questions. They are worthless unless you want "scientific" evidence that things are great or that they suck.

[Hoot Gibson]

No I can't. What does it even mean to say that you "strongly approve" -- or disapprove -- of what any politician does? On Obama, if you -- for example -- agree with him on healthcare but disagree on stimulus, do you "strongly agree" with him or "strongly disagree"? Is one more heavily weighted than the other? These polls are really just either party affiliation or general "mood of the country" questions. They are worthless unless you want "scientific" evidence that things are great or that they suck.

At one time, I had the same opinion that you have about polls. Over the years, I have realized that political polls, unlike sports polls, really do matter. Polls influence who donates to campaigns and the size of their donations.

Bad poll numbers can also discourage supporters from donating their time to work to get candidates elected. People want to make a difference, but most people do not want to spend time and money supporting candidates that they know cannot win.

Rasmussen may be the best pollster in the business and he is not partisan as far as I can tell. Politicians can and do hire their own pollsters to slant questions and samples to project a phony view of how their campaign is going but most people ignore polls that are obviously biased.

It is unfortunate that polls do impact election results but the earlier pollsters start publishing survey results, the more impact on elections they have.

Rasmussen asks the question pretty much as I did in this poll and leaves it up to respondents to put meaning to the words. Except for a few holidays, he publishes the Daily Presidential Tracking Poll continuously and the questions are always the same. He takes the difference between the strongly approve and strongly disapprove numbers and reports the result as the Presidential Approval Index. People who feel strongly about the President's performance are less likely to change the way that they will vote over a short period of time.

[SKINNYPIG]

As long as it stays at 29% or lower they can be ignored. Could it be said that 29% of those polled are simply not paying attention?