Thoughts about the NBC News/WSJ Poll

Thoughts about the NBC News/WSJ Poll

The survey of 1,008 adults, conducted Friday to Monday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the full sample

Data:

Overall Approval Rating: 56% (down from 61% in April)

Overall Handling of the Economy: 51%

Overall Handling of Foreign Policy: 54%

Fault for the Economic Deficit: Bush Admin. 46%, Dem. Congress 21%, Obama 6%

Believe the Economy will get better: 46% versus 38% in April

Strongly Support Sotomayor: 43% versus 38% when John Roberts was nominated

Concern over Govt. Intervention of the Economy: Nearly 70%

Focus on Deficit being down: 56%

Is Obama taking on too many issues: 37%

Important issue facing economy: 24% Deficit versus only 11% for Healthcare

Support for Obama Healthcare plan: 55%

After hearing arguments against plan: 47% still support it

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So what does this mean? I would argue that the American people are beginning to question the policies of the Obama administration and that is a good thing. In my humble opinion, President Obama is getting a pass from the majority of the American people because of their overall liking of his personality and appeal. That is a problem. While they may like the fact that he and his family plant gardens, play basketball, go out on the town for dates, and just look so darn cool most of the time, the American people need to question the policies of the Obama administration because the Obama administration is making drastic changes to the way government acts in this country, changes that may never be reversed. Healthy debate must occur. Debate must happen not only on cable news and in the Halls of Congress but it must happen at the water cooler and at the dinner table. Families need to talk about whether or not they like the federal government owning America’s car industry, they need to discuss whether or not they want Healthcare to be universal, and the need to discuss the Obama administration strengths and weaknesses in regard to foreign policy. Healthy debate must happen on this issue because whatever happens we, the American people, need to make sure the government gets it right.

The Data aforementioned shows that a great debate will undoubtedly occur over the future of the American Healthcare system with a great deal of Americans still in need of convincing that Obama’s plan is right for the United States. This data also shows that the American people do not want the government intervening in the American economy any more which could help the GOP and their argument that bringing 1/6 of the GDP under the umbrella of the Federal government is unpractical and superfluous. Also the American people’s desire to reduce the deficit could result in a Republican argument that Healthcare Reform is too costly and that overall spending should be reduced. While this poll should give confidence to my Conservative friends that things are beginning to balance out, one thing from this data is clear: Sotomayor will be the next Supreme Court Justice and any efforts to stop or delay her nomination would be costly politically for the GOP since a great deal of the American people are comfortable with her being on the court.

These are off course just numbers and they could change with the wind but both parties should look closely at what NBC News and the Wall Street Journal discovered and plot their political strategies accordingly.

Joe St. George