# How much did Obama break out of traditional voting blocs in the last election?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-obama-break-out-of-traditional-voting-blocs-in-the-last-election/484869>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 8, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-obama-break-out-of-traditional-voting-blocs-in-the-last-election/484869 "2009-02-08T01:28:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-obama-break-out-of-traditional-voting-blocs-in-the-last-election/484869/1 "2009-02-08T01:28:26Z")

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[Could this be a GQ? Hrm.]

I saw mention of an article by someone at the National Review stating that with the stimulus package, Obama is taking a huge blow. The argument is something along the lines of “the magic is gone,” that he’s exposed as just another Democratic president with a liberal agenda.

My first thought was, a vast number of voters consider that a GOOD thing. My next thought was, whether or not it IS a good thing depends on whether Obama got a significant number of people who otherwise wouldn’t have voted for a Democratic/liberal candidate to vote for him.

So how did he do in that arena last November? Was this a party-line election, or was this support for him something unique that he’ll never get back? (What I mean is, despite the NR article’s belief, if he DID transcend party lines and ideology, then ANY agenda he had would most likely disappoint a good number of his voters. In that case, “losing the magic” would be inevitable.)

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**Author:** ![Madgolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Madgolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madgolf)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-obama-break-out-of-traditional-voting-blocs-in-the-last-election/484869/2 "2009-02-15T10:46:01Z")

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Re: stimulus - Obama does not write bills. He is the President.

His leadership on the matter is sub par and he lost points for it.

His approval rating dropped to under 60% because of his incompetence.

[http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/02/09/daily42.html](http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/02/09/daily42.html)