If President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush were running on the same ballot this year, it's would be a close fight. That's the conclusion of Public Policy Polling, which finds that about as many Americans would prefer to have Bush back in the White House as they would Obama, who has a slim edge.
Jensen notes that Democrats who plan to continue running against Bush as part of their platform probably should rethink that message. As unpopular as Bush was when he went out of office, Republican and conservative voters would prefer him to Obama. That's roughly the same proportion of Democrats who prefer Obama. Among independents, though it's a clearer choice for Obama.
The other day N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney articulated at a party meeting in Orange County how Democrats here will shape their message. While Republicans have high hopes for capitalizing on Obama's unpopularity among conservatives and on Democratic corruption, Hackney says his party will portray Republicans as the party of "No."
Dome quoted Hackney as saying the other day, "If the Republicans won't cut, they won't tax, they won't govern." The speaker said Democrats had weathered a recession and protected education and have a positive story to tell while the Republican story had become one of saying 'no." "Let's take it to the polls and see if 'no, no, no' is what they want," Hackney said.
Read more here.
Meanwhile, here's PPP's analysis of the Obama-Bush story:
Americans are now pretty evenly divided about whether they would rather have Barack Obama or George W. Bush in the White House. 48% prefer Obama while 46% say they would rather have the old President back.
Bush had atrocious approval ratings for his final few years in office, particularly because he lost a lot of support from Republicans and conservative leaning independents. Those folks may not have liked him but they now say they would rather have him back than Obama. 87% of GOP voters now say they would prefer Bush, a number a good deal higher than Bush's approval rating within his party toward the tail end of his Presidency. Democrats predictably go for Obama by an 86/10 margin, and independents lean toward him as well by a 49/37 spread.
These numbers suggest some peril for Democrats in making Bush a focus of their messaging this fall. A lot of folks who contributed to the former President's low level of popularity now like Obama even less. Figuring out a way to make voters change their minds about the current President would be a much more effective strategy for Democrats than continuing to try to score points off the former one.
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/04/obamabush-nearly-divided.html
