Between Donald Trump’s insistence that New Jersey Muslims were celebrating on the rooftops after the 911 tragedy, Ben Carson’s Thanksgiving vacation in Jordan and Hillary Clinton’s post-Thanksgiving announcement (yawn!) of a new $275 million infrastructure proposal, it’s often easy to forget that we still have the incumbent President (Obama) for another thirteen-plus months.
And, yes, President Obama still matters.
Here’s why:
- Obama’s job approval scores (RCP average) have not been “right-side-up” since the end of July 2013 (28 months ago). And, Obama’s under-water approval scores increase the Democrats’ degree of difficulty in the ’16 election.
- How voters feel about President Obama has a lot to do with how they say they are going to vote in ‘16. And, that’s bad news for Democrats in 2016.
*data from NBC News/ WSJ poll conducted October 25-29, 2015
- Despite President Obama’s weak approval scores nationally, he’s still in position to help Hillary Clinton – his image is more positive than hers, and he has strength among key Democratic constituencies that she’s going to need next November.
*data from NBC News/WSJ poll conducted October 25-29, 2015
President Obama may very well be the lamest of lame-duck Presidents, but his impact on the ‘16 election will be undeniable.