President Obama can thank Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for his growing popularity

President Obama can thank Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for his growing popularity

So Obama is actually being rated favorably for the first time in his second term.

Since the fall of 2015, the president’s favorability rating and job approval have increased by three and five percentage points, respectively, in polling averages. A majority of Americans consistently rate Obama favorably for the first time since his second term began.

What's funny is that it is the two bozos running for the NEXT Presidential seat that are making him look so good. I guess everyone is standing atop the frying pan and peering into the fire and it doesn't look all that appeasing.

The president joked about his growing popularity a few months ago at the White House correspondents’ dinner, saying: “Even my aides can’t explain the rising poll numbers — what has changed, nobody can figure it out.” An image of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump then appeared on the projection screen beside the president. The obvious implication of the joke was that the president’s unpopular opponents — Trump and Cruz — were making him look good in comparison.

But Trump and Cruz aren’t the only ones who might be making Barack Obama look good. The president’s Democratic successor, Hillary Clinton, is also very unpopular. So much so, in fact, that she would be the least popular major party nominee in modern times if it weren’t for Donald Trump’s record-high negatives.

Clinton and Trump’s flawed candidacies are even making some nostalgic for Obama’s presidency while he’s still in office. David Brooks, for example, wrote a piece during the primaries entitled “I Miss Barack Obama,” in which he compared the president most favorably with the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees. Or as he put it, “Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him.”

Oh don't worry. This is backed up by data too. Click on the link in the OP to view the graphs, but I repost some of the text below:

Obama’s rising popularity has been entirely concentrated among those with negative opinions of both Trump and Clinton. In the past year, the president’s favorability rating has increased by 20 percentage points among this group. Meanwhile, his favorability rating has actually declined among Americans with a favorable opinion of Trump and/or Clinton.

Rand Corp.’s Presidential Election Panel Survey (PEPS) provides further insight into Obama’s rising popularity. The PEPS data track changes in the president’s favorability rating among the same 2,679 individuals who were interviewed in December 2015 and March 2016. Using those data, I estimated the influence of views of Clinton and Trump on changes in Obama’s popularity after accounting for other relevant factors, such as partisanship, ideology and demographics. The graph below presents the results.(again click on the link to view the graph)

Again, Obama’s rising popularity is concentrated among those with unfavorable opinions of Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. Obama’s favorability rating increased by about 12 percentage points from December 2015 to March 2016 among PEPS respondents who had a very negative opinion of both candidates. His popularity, however, did not change significantly among those with more positive opinions of Clinton and Trump.

So there you go. Obama ain't so bad when you consider the two duds running to replace him. He must be loving life now that for the first time in 8 years, the whole world isn't out for his blood.

Obama hasn't grown on me any.

I've never understood why his ratings were so low. He has been a decent, moderate president that did not do all of the things people feared he would have.

This election is going to make a lot of people, whether they will admit it or not, nostalgic for the 2012 election. Whatever personal feelings people had regarding Obama and Romney, I think most reasonable people would acknowledge that they both would have done a reasonably competent job, from a nuts-and-bolts perspective, of running the executive branch, and that they are both basically decent human beings.

Fast forward to 2016. This year, I think most reasonable people would agree that both Hillary and Trump have questionable leadership/managerial skills and are, at best, lacking in the basic human decency department. They make both Obama AND Romney look much better, in retrospect.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

This could add fuel to the fire for conspiracy theorists who claim elections will be suspended and Obama will have a 3rd term, declare martial law, and rule the US indefinitely (not sure if that also ties into the Anti-Christ theory)

lol

originally posted by: introvert
I've never understood why his ratings were so low. He has been a decent, moderate president that did not do all of the things people feared he would have.

Yeah. For real. Once you look past the Republican hyperbole and rhetoric, he hasn't been that bad of a President. In fact he's actually been a pretty good one. I rate him around a B- or a B as far as Presidents go. He certainly should get props for turning our economy around. That # was a disaster when Bush left office. Plus, listening to him talk, he really sounds like a down to earth dude.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: Krazysh0t

This could add fuel to the fire for conspiracy theorists who claim elections will be suspended and Obama will have a 3rd term, declare martial law, and rule the US indefinitely (not sure if that also ties into the Anti-Christ theory)

lol

Yeah but in the world of conspiracy theory, all news is confirmation of your biases.

The global economy has changed over the last couple decades. its been under the bush and obama terms that we have seen this in full action. economically things are gonna be rough until we have a new economic model (hopefully involving a space elevator, but that will most likely be japan, not the usa). So, all presidents from here on out are gonna be considered crap in regards to economics. hard to make hyperbole statements on economic health while we allow trade with china and other slave force nations.

Everything else is just nationalism and football team cheering. I am cynical about politics overall..just keep out of my day to day life as best possible and I am fine.

Obama will never be popular with anyone who has a brain.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

So everyone who dislikes Trump and Clinton are brainless?

a reply to: introvert

Because most of us feel that if his mouth is moving then he's lying. He has a terrible time at telling the truth at crucial times.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Hey, even George W. is starting to look like a statesman when compared to the current crop!

Again, not everyone on ATS believes all the BS and hyperbole surrounding Hillary or Obama that we read on here.

AND not everyone believes all the BS and hyperbole surrounding Trump, either. I don't think he's too horrid of a person, and he's very different from Obama, Hillary OR Sanders, but that doesn't mean I want him for president, just because he's "different".

originally posted by: avgguy
Because most of us feel that if his mouth is moving then he's lying.

Well, if most ATS members believe it, it must be true, right?

Bandwagon Fallacy

bandwagon fallacy: concluding that an idea has merit simply because many people believe it or practice it. (e.g., Most people believe in a god; therefore, it must prove true.) Simply because many people may believe something says nothing about the fact of that something. For example many people during the Black plague believed that demons caused disease. The number of believers say nothing at all about the cause of disease.

A majority of Americans consistently rate Obama favorably for the first time since his second term began

The 'majority' of Americans don't even vote people.

Of the 330+ millions Americans that live here less than a third even votes.

So please.

originally posted by: neo96

The 'majority' of Americans don't even vote people.

Of the 330+ millions Americans that live here less than a third even votes.

So please.

So, what's the point here? Whether they vote or not, they're still Americans and they have an opinion of the president. What does voting have to do with the poll of Obama's popularity?

he has done a decent job? no, he hasnt done anything to improve the quality of life. he has done nothing to positively affect anyone, but make america look like a bunch of panzies.

americans in poverty 2008 - 29.32 million
americans in poverty 2014 - 46.65 million

90% of black teenagers are unemployed
unemployment up 12% since bush

the national debt has gone up 12 trillion.... trillion with a t

median income has went down 5% from $55,000 to 50,000

black home ownership down 4.2%

60% increase in mortgage default 6.6 % to over 10%

lost over 600,000 government jobs

food stamps usage is up 42% 31.9 - 46.5 million


another4-6 million illegal immigrants - over 1000 coming over the border daily

factcheck.org

he has done nothing for me. i still dont have health insurance because it costs 800 a month for my family, instead im penalized 1200 a year for not having it when filing taxes

we lost over 300,000 education jobs under obama
long term unemployment has doubled from 2.7 to 5.3 million
home values down 12%
home energy bills up 15%
we have lost 1.6 million jobs, and added 3.6 million to social security
more than half of americans are dependent on funds from government
federal spending up 25% higher than any president since wwII

please give me one thing that obama has done that has improved the life of any american

a reply to: Krazysh0t

He turned out a little less progressive than I thought (and hoped) he would be, but honestly, I like him a LOT personally. I'd love to sit down and have a beer and a chat with him, and he seems like the kind of guy you could do that with.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

What does voting have to do with the poll of Obama's popularity?

Everything.

originally posted by: introvert
I've never understood why his ratings were so low. He has been a decent, moderate president that did not do all of the things people feared he would have.

You must have loved G W Bush then, because he basically continued his policies.
We hear a lot of crap coming out of Hillary's pie-hole, and she will be more of the same.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: Krazysh0t

He turned out a little less progressive than I thought (and hoped) he would be, but honestly, I like him a LOT personally. I'd love to sit down and have a beer and a chat with him, and he seems like the kind of guy you could do that with.

Yea he does. I was skeptical about him for the longest time, but he's grown on me quite a bit from watching his actions and listening to him speak. He is definitely trying and gets FAR too much flak for the things he does.

a reply to: nobunaga

You planning on sourcing any of that nonsense?