Majority believe Obama has changed country for worse

Majority believe Obama has changed country for worse

Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it’s changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority.

A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent of likely voters believe Obama’s first term has transformed the nation in a negative way, compared to 35 percent who believe the country has changed for the better under his leadership.

The results signal broad voter unease with the direction the nation has taken under Obama’s leadership and present a major challenge for the incumbent Democrat as he seeks reelection this fall.


Conducted for The Hill by Pulse Opinion Research, the poll comes in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision that upheld the primary elements of Obama’s signature healthcare legislation.
It found 68 percent of likely voters — regardless of whether they approve or disapprove of Obama — believe the president has substantially transformed the country since his 2009 inauguration.

The feeling that Obama has changed the country for the worse is strongest among Republicans, at 91 percent, compared to 71 percent of Democrats who support Obama’s brand of change.

Strikingly, 1-in-5 Democrats say they feel Obama has changed the United States for the worse.

Compared to the sentiment about Obama’s impact, fewer people see presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a candidate who will change the country dramatically if elected.

Still, 50 percent of people think Romney will bring a “significant” level of change — a finding that may reflect the desire among anti-Obama voters for a reversal of the president’s policies.

Debate about Obama’s first-term legacy has intensified since the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to be constitutional.

The healthcare legislation, once fully implemented, would usher in the most sweeping changes to the nation’s social safety net since the 1960s.

To Obama’s supporters, the ruling was a validation of his 2008 campaign theme of “change we can believe in.” At that time, Obama hinted at his ambitions to become a transformative president in the mold of Ronald Reagan.

“I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it,” he told the Reno Gazette-Journal in January 2008.

Beyond the healthcare law, Obama won passage of the Dodd-Frank financial industry reforms, generally viewed as the biggest Wall Street regulatory changes since the 1930s.

In the absence of major immigration legislation, Obama recently eased deportation rules for young illegal immigrants brought to the country as children.

Obama’s ambitions for big change fell short in other areas. He has been unable to pass climate change legislation or repeal the Bush-era tax rates.

On social issues, Obama recently became the first president to endorse gay marriage.

Independent of voter opinions about how the country has changed, The Hill Poll found an overwhelming majority of voters — 89 percent — view the choice between Obama and Romney as important in terms of the future impact on the country.

Almost half (47 percent) say they are paying more attention to this year’s election than the 2008 vote. Republicans are generally paying more attention than Democrats — 56 percent to 44 percent — to the 2012 campaign compared to 2008.

Among centrists, views are evenly split on how Obama has changed the country — with 40 percent saying the United States is better today and 42 percent saying it is worse off. Eighty percent of liberals think Obama has changed the country for the better.

There is a marked difference of opinion along racial lines, with just 29 percent of whites saying Obama has changed the country for the better compared to 92 percent of blacks.

The poll was conducted among 1,000 likely voters on July 5 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Click here to view data from The Hill Poll.

http://thehill.com/polls/236627-hill-poll-majority-feel-obama-has-changed-country-for-worse


This is why Obama is doomed. He's on Jimmy Carter's career path. There is little that he can do now.


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Hmmm.

I see this is also from "The Hill" today:

Perhaps you are counting those chickens a little prematurely?

 

Too bad he didn't stop all the insane wars of aggression, and use that money to help Americans. Instead he kept the wars going, even starting new ones so the super-rich war profiteers can make more money.

 

No, the boy is toast.

He should have never been in the office in the first place.. What level of stupidity you you have to sink to to think that scooping ice cream prepares you to be the president?

 

I'm not surprised, he has been ignorant, cocky and divisive. what good has he done for the country?

 

Na, Thats not why....

Running around shirtless in the water prepares you to be President.

 

Count me in the majority. Only problem is that Romney is no better. If Romney is elected, I think he will be hated by both sides when he leaves office. Strong conservatives get upset when they dont get their way. Romney is not going to be a strong conservative or even close. He is a wolf in sheeps clothing.

 

You keep believing that. But you know who doesn't believe that?

Mitt Romney.

 

Future President Mitt Romney.

Get use to it.

 

Maybe so, but Obama has been utterly horrible and everyone knows it. At least there is a chance Mitt Romney could be better. And I truly believe Obama will be even more reckless if he gets re-elected. Keep that in mind.

 

Obama has been horrible in many ways, but I see nothing in Romney that makes me think he would be any better. I will vote for neither of them. Your hope that Mitt could be better is what I meant by him being hated when he left office, so many people are voting for him in the hopes that he will make them happy, good luck with that one he is the biggest fake out there.

 

Nope, I'm not buying the pro-Obama polls.

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The suprising (and scary) part is the 35% who think he's changed it for the better.

 

Let's face it, only idiots bought into the "hope and change" campaign.


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Well I can tell you one thing, if Mitt Romney is elected, we will hold him accountable for his actions. We will not give him a pass like the left is doing with Obama, we will not ignore his mistakes, we will be loud and vocal. If he is really bad than he will be a one termer and we will move on to the next.

I would rather that than elect an even more reckless Obama.

 

So O-Bum-ba is going to get re-elected is what you are saying?

 

IDK how Obama's poll numbers are where they are. I believe once Romney picks his VP, Obama is toast.

 

Ha-Ha!

Very good, Arc.

Here is another excellent example of just how stupid Barack Obama and his energy department really are. They are building additional power generation capacity where it is not needed!

The Oregonian’s continuing coverage of a Bonneville Power Administration plan to limit wind power when too much hydropower is available. While the output of the Columbia hydro system is awe-inspiring, "over-generation" hasn't been a problem since the federal government built dams and a slew of industrial customers – shipbuilders, aluminum smelters, semiconductor makers – migrated to the Northwest for cheap power. But many of those energy hogs are gone, only partially replaced by the new data centers east of the Cascades.

Meanwhile, in spite of the fact additional power generation capacity for the region was not needed, a wind farm boom to satisfy state renewable power mandates plugged 4,400 new megawatts of intermittent generation into BPA's transmission system. When the windmills go full throttle, they generate enough power for 3.5 million homes.

The problem blew up last year, when wind reached a critical mass and the region faced an unusually high snow pack and runoff. BPA responded by instituting "environmental redispatch," a protocol to cut off wind farms' transmission during over-generation and substitute free hydropower to satisfy scheduled deliveries to customers.

 

They are collecting a government check every week, what do they care?

 

Believing polls reflect true voter numbers at this so-called effectively "early" stage in the race is just not reliable. Personally, I think Obama was never ready to take office, and his policies (or lack thereof...from many viewpoints) reflect a presidency of change in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, while some of his economic policies weren't helped by the previous administrations actions, Obama has had 4 years to put things right. By all accounts and purposes, I don't see any reason to believe he has put anything "right", but rather has continued to divide and alienate Americans with his actions on the economy, healthcare, etc.

However, having said all that, Romney is just another continuation of bad policies and flip flopping. Obama is a wolf, but Romney is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Using that metaphor, I'd rather be face to face with the wolf and know how he works than try to pet a wolf disguised as something less sinister.

I truely believe Obama will get another 4 years in office...as much as it pains me to say it.

 

How long are you people going to continue beating each other over the head about how stupid and worthless the 'other' parties candidates are?

They are ALL stupid and worthless.

The Republic is broke. And broken...


Things need to change and neither party is going to bring about those changes.

These clowns swap wives man. They are laughing at us.

 

Perhaps you are not counting the fact that if an incumbent is ahead only that much at this point, they will probably lose, because it is also a fact I believe, that Independents who have not made up their mind by this time vote overwhelmingly against the Incumbent.

I think Obama should be ahead by 8 points or more to be in a good position.

 

Yes, you are right. But the solution to that is NOT leaving Obama in. He's the WORST possible option.

And it is probably not realistic to think that 250,000,000 of us are going to get our muskets and rise up and march to Washington D.C. and 'change things'.

The mostly likely path is to get Obama (the WORST scenario) OUT, and then with a Conservative in, start patiently grooming candidates who are not Washington D.C. influenced- like the good Tea Party candidates or someone similar.

 

How will you hold him accountable? By not re-electing him? Romney will ALWAYS do what best suits him period.

I dont agree on the free pass, I think Obama will lose this election because of his huge shortcomings. I guess that is holding him accountable like we will Romney.

Me too but it is a very close call. I think they both are horrible for our country.
What scares me is that with 8 years of George W, 4 years of Obama, and 4 years of Romney, we will have 16 years of unbelievable damage done to our country. Hopefully after that we will finally stand up and demand change, if we are still here. Do you really think that Romney is going to be a fiscally conservative president? That is just a delusional stance that is almost as bad as believing "Hope and Change"

 

Where are all those loony left *******s that constantly posted poll's showing Bush's approval ratings in the 40's and 30's?

Well? Where are they?