# Obama's Gallup approval up to over 51%. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 4, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952 "2016-03-04T19:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/21 "2016-03-04T21:28:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m gonna say it’s too early to say it isn’t noise. His approval ratings were negative just a week ago. I don’t think it’s just noise. His ratings are definitely up across most polls in 2016: [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president\_obama\_job\_approval-1044.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/22 "2016-03-04T21:35:41Z")
I suspect some of the increase may be due to Obama looking pretty good compared to the Republicans, and even compared to Clinton and Sanders. Even David Brooks, who rarely agreed with Obama’s policies, [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?_r=0)he was going to miss Obama: > [@David Brooks](#): > > [O]ver the course of this campaign it feels as if there’s been a decline in behavioral standards across the board. Many of the traits of character and leadership that Obama possesses, and that maybe we have taken too much for granted, have suddenly gone missing or are in short supply. > > \ > > He and his wife have not only displayed superior integrity themselves, they have mostly attracted and hired people with high personal standards… > > \ > > He’s exuded this basic care and respect for the dignity of others time and time again. Let’s put it this way: Imagine if Barack and Michelle Obama joined the board of a charity you’re involved in. You’d be happy to have such people in your community. Could you say that comfortably about Ted Cruz?.. Brooks goes on to praise Obama’s thoughtful decision-making process, grace under pressure, optimism, and elegance. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/23 "2016-03-04T21:57:55Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > but but but… Unemployment is at the lowest level in years! That’s bad, right? We don’t want the figures to be low! We want the best! The highest numbers! > > Obama is bad! Terrible! He only delivers these low numbers!!! > > I am pretty sure that there are some Republican voters who think EXACTLY these thoughts. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as the job market has improved, steadily, to practically full employment … we’re seeing metrics that nobody has ever heard of before (like “discouraged workers”) that serve only to cast a negative spin. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/24 "2016-03-05T00:02:05Z")
Romney promised to lower unemployment to [under 6% by the end of his first term](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/229137-romney-promises-to-lower-unemployment-to-6-percent-in-first-term). It is now 4.9% for the second month in a row. Romney[blamed Obama for high gas prices](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mitt-romney-obama-to-blame-for-high-gas-prices/) of $3.80/gallon. Current average is $1.81/gallon, so I guess Romney will give Obama credit for that, right? I would guess that Obama’s popularity is because people have more money in their pockets, and things are even better now than the Republicans promised (if Romney had been elected) Yet the Republicans are STILL trying to tell everyone how horrible it is. “Ignore that reality! Things are terrible!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/25 "2016-03-05T00:10:59Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > I saw a funny quote in the comments section on Slate: “This election is what baseball was like when all the real players were off fighting WWII.” Man I want a Like button. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/26 "2016-03-05T00:49:50Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Romney promised to lower unemployment to [under 6% by the end of his first term](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/229137-romney-promises-to-lower-unemployment-to-6-percent-in-first-term). > > It is now 4.9% for the second month in a row. > > Romney[blamed Obama for high gas prices](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mitt-romney-obama-to-blame-for-high-gas-prices/) of $3.80/gallon. > > Current average is $1.81/gallon, so I guess Romney will give Obama credit for that, right? > > I would guess that Obama’s popularity is because people have more money in their pockets, and things are even better now than the Republicans promised (if Romney had been elected) > > Yet the Republicans are STILL trying to tell everyone how horrible it is. “Ignore that reality! Things are terrible!” Thanks for the links. I mentioned this stuff in another thread but was too lazy to find them. Add to that that we almost have energy independence (not quite, I think) and that inflation, which was supposed to soar due to the deficits is still very low. If you predicted where we are in 2008 or even 2012, Fox News would call you a liar. Republican heads should be exploding now. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/27 "2016-03-05T21:39:32Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > …Even David Brooks, who rarely agreed with Obama’s policies, [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?_r=0)he was going to miss Obama: > > Brooks goes on to praise Obama’s thoughtful decision-making process, grace under pressure, optimism, and elegance. Those qualities have been in evidence ever since Obama first came on the national stage. The mystery to me is how it took a sensible person like Brooks so long to see them? And of course, why do some not see them even now? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/28 "2016-03-05T21:56:35Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > Those qualities have been in evidence ever since Obama first came on the national stage. The mystery to me is how it took a sensible person like Brooks so long to see them? And of course, why do some not see them even now? I think there are some people who just needed the contrast of how awful things could actually be. This last week I’ve had two different hardcore Republicans comment that given the choices they see in 2016 they wish Obama could run for a third term so they would have someone decent to vote for. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/29 "2016-03-06T08:13:53Z")
This is just the break the Obama campaign needs! If only… It’s heartening to hear of hardcore Republicans coming to their senses, but still, it took the equivalent of a hammer blow to the head to make them see it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/30 "2016-03-06T08:39:02Z")
And with the excuse of the Evil Hillary to not actually, you know, vote Democratic. There’s always an excuse. In the spring of 2024, the same people will finally get around to admitting that Hillary has really been a pretty good President. While believing all of their own side’s propaganda about how terrible the likely 2024 Dem nominee is. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/31 "2016-03-07T15:08:20Z")
He hasn’t done anything lately. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/32 "2016-03-07T16:52:13Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > He hasn’t done anything lately. > > Regards, > Shodan OK, this is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. It’s got to be the punch line to a joke: “Well, Obama ordered bin Laden captured, Inflation is low, unemployment is at an 8 year record low, Gas prices are down, local terrorist attacks have been stymied, troops are no longer arriving home in body bags, the economy is doing great and more people than ever have health insurance.” “Ya, but what has he done for us _lately_?” (cue laugh track) Well, lately he HAS been trying to appoint a Supreme Court Justice, but the Republicans say he’s not allowed to, for some strange, unconstitutional reasons. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/33 "2016-03-07T17:44:51Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > [Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx)has him up over 50% for the first time in 3 years. He’s approve over disapprove by 7 (51 to 44) while he’s spent most of the last two and a half years in the negatives, often by 10 the other way. > > Why? And if it persists will it have impact on the margin of Clinton’s victory? 🙂 > > Honestly I am not sure how much is chicken vs egg with the politics. Is this the improving jobs numbers ([“real unemployment”](http://www.gallup.com/poll/189068/bls-unemployment-seasonally-adjusted.aspx) having peaked during his first two years at over 17% now down to 9.7%) and how much is Clinton’s singing of his praises and the compare contrast with the much focused upon GOP alternatives (who do of course repeat the mantra of how horrible Obama is but who of course tear at each other more). > > One? The other? Something else? Honestly, I think it’s because due to the current crop of presidential candidates from both parties (with the possible exception of Clinton), people are already bracing themselves with nostalgia goggles that the golden age is over and it’s all down hill from here. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/34 "2016-03-07T17:56:48Z")
Apropos, I think, is a little chart from this week’s \*Economist \*(couldn’t find a link) that shows the percentage of Americans calling themselves “conservative,” “moderate,” or “liberal,” from 1992 to 2016. The conservative line begins and ends at 37% – BUT it makes a big jump up to 40% right after Obama is elected, and has taken seven years to get down to its usual level. It’s hard to not assume there’s some racism showing up in this. It’s like a bunch of people thought, “Oh, a black president! The world’s about to end! I’ll be conservative now.” Subsequently, each year more of these people think, “hmmm…the world didn’t end after all! I guess I’ll go back to being a moderate (or even a liberal).” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/35 "2016-03-07T18:01:52Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > but but but… Unemployment is at the lowest level in years! That’s bad, right? We don’t want the figures to be low! We want the best! The highest numbers! > > Obama is bad! Terrible! He only delivers these low numbers!!! > > I am pretty sure that there are some Republican voters who think EXACTLY these thoughts. Mostly the thought processes of the right-wing interneterati\* seems to go: 1. The news are reporting that unemployment has continued to fall to low levels. 2. If true, that would mean Obama is a good president. 3. Obama is not a good president, therefore those numbers can’t be true. 4. I will instead assert that actual unemployment is , based on the anal extraction method of data analysis. I saw one guy recently asserting unemployment was _really_ at **40%** , which requires a spectacular amount of ignorance at what a country with 40% unemployment would look like. Back on topic: I agree that it’s a combination of the Firehoses of Bullshit being turned elsewhere during campaign season (mostly at Clinton, Sanders and Trump), and people noticing that compared to all the alternatives to vote for in November Obama actually looks properly presidential. \*by which I mean the doofuses in various comments sections across the web, not the (mostly) erudite conservative posters on this fine messageboard. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/36 "2016-03-07T18:15:03Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > He hasn’t done anything lately. Like start a needless war. Lame duck or what, right? This is just a hunch, but I have a feeling that there’s a few things that presidents do behind the scenes that don’t fit the criteria for breaking news. But because they aren’t reported, I guess we can just assume that he’s off playing golf and basketball all day. (I know that was a fun bit of harmless trolling on your part, and well played:), but I wanted to take the opportunity to answer Obama haters who actually think that.) ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/37 "2016-03-07T18:46:47Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Perhaps the electorate are looking at his potential successors and thinking that Obama isn’t really all that bad compared to what we’re going to have to choose between in the fall. ditto; Trump is helping make Obama look great! ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/38 "2016-03-07T18:57:51Z")
37 posts and not a mention of the ACA … so it’s not a positive and not a negative? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/39 "2016-03-07T18:58:37Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > ditto; Trump is helping make Obama look great! “Make Obama Look Great Again” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952/40 "2016-03-07T19:34:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **up\_the\_junction** : > > 37 posts and not a mention of the ACA … so it’s not a positive and not a negative? It’s not current. Obama’s approval is up within the past few months; the ACA has been around for years now. Unless there’s some reason for people to change their view of the ACA recently (there might be, but nobody’s proposed one), it can’t account for the shift. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-gallup-approval-up-to-over-51-why/747952.md?page=3)