Gallup has some good news and some really bad news for President Obama

Finally, some good news to please President Obama in a new Gallup Poll.

The survey finds that more Americans still identify themselves as Democrats (31%) than call themselves Republicans.

Now, the bad news:

That 31% ties the lowest annual average of Democrats since 1988, when fellow Harvard Law alum Michael Dukakis got thumped by the first Bush to become president.  

 In fact, in the 717 days since Beyonce sang "Moon River" or something to this dancing Democrat, the percentage of Americans identifying as members of his party has declined five points, or almost 14 percent, from where it was. No wonder he smokes cigarettes.

Worse, Gallup finds that the percentage of Democratic-identifiers has fallen to where it's now only two points above (whisper) Republicans.

Additionally, things have gone so well changing the harsh partisan tone of Washington, as Obama promised, that more folks are fleeing into calling themselves "independents" (38%). That's what Americans do when they're too embarrassed to say what party they secretly favor.

People can only speculate on the mysterious reasons for the Dem decline -- high....

...unemployment, slow economic growth, broken promises, mind-boggling federal spending, a historic national debt that grows $54,000 every second, a single healthcare bill transforming one-sixth of the country's economy, the longest war in national history, increasingly intrusive government regulations. Those are all preposterous, of course.

The real reason for his political "shellacking" in the Nov. 2 midterm elections, the president explains, is that he did not have a chance to adequately explain administration policies during the 172 trips he took on Air Force One and the 196 trips he took aboard the Marine One helicopter during the 365 days of 2010. The president plans to get out more this year, aides say.

Meanwhile, another new national survey finds that "conservative" has become the most positive political label among Americans, while those seeing "Tea Party" as a negative have dropped from 38% down to 31% just since September.

The 42% who see "conservative" as a positive is nearly double the 22% who see "progressive" as a positive. When the word "liberal" developed a bad taste in recent years, "progressive" became the preferred euphemism. But now even it is viewed negatively by 34%.

The poll calls these findings "a continuing downward trend for progressive," which as recently as the 2008 election year was more popular than "conservative." And does anyone need a reminder which Bush to blame for that?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters; Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images.

Comments

[blackone]

Oh, he's proven that there's no difference. Both the liberals and conservatives want to exploit and invade every corner of our lives, and, most importantly, raid the national treasury then push us out, starve us out, so they can lord it over their foreign serfs.

[adainv]

When the" Liberal" moniker became almost a swear word, they simply changed their name to "Progressives"! This name change is nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing! Liberalism is a dying breed, they are literally destroying this Country, however, the electorate is finally waking up and big changes are in the wind as evidenced by the recent elections.

[CW]

The country is still center-right, and democrats won't always have a young black man to excite the youth vote to save them in presidential elections.

[valwayne]

Obama promised the nation he would be moderate and pragmatic while he was campaigning. Then he was sworn into office and we found we had elected the most arrogant, left wing, ideological President in our history. Then we watched as he joined forces with Nancy Pelosi and the extreme Elite left to force his radical left wing agenda on the nation. An agenda that has damaged our economy terribly and plunged us so far into debt it will take a generation to repair. He's left millions and millions UNEMPLOYED, Long term UNEMPLOYMENT is at record levels, and a record number of people get foodstamps. Worse the lies about the healthcare plan, green shoots, recovery summer, etc etc have shown how much contempt Obama has for average working Americans. Obama and the Democrats have been a disaster for the nation beyond anything we ever could have imagined just over 2 years ago!

[Paul J]

"People can only speculate on the mysterious reasons for the Dem decline -..."

Now that's a good one! The three main reasons are bad economic policies, bad economic policies, and bad economic policies leading to bankrupt government, a collapsed dollar, businesses that wont hire, economic stagnation, and, soon, roaring inflation. Oh, and the most bitterly partisan, divisive group of leaders in memory.

As the Robing Hood Party, Dems will always have a larger constuency than Republicans, because there will always be more people looking for something for nothing than there are normal, responsible people.

[ugg]

One of three different things are present when some nut case person either decides to blow up a building , kill someone or invest his money somewhere. Greed, Fear or Religion. If you were spreading any of these three over the airwaves you were probably responsible in some way for shoving this unstable guy over the edge. You can’t be blamed for the whole thing. Do what the insurance companies do. You know, 40% at fault for radio, 40% fault for TV, and 20% fault for milking the economy putting it into a deep recession. All of these things play some part in promoting crime, poverty and death. The thing I worry about is some rich person or persons may have had a secret agreement with this nut case person through 2, 3, or 4 different parties to cover up this crime, telling him telling him someone will take care of him after a short stay in jail. You or I would not fall for a gig like this but a nut case would. That is why past history reveals some nut cases fell for this type gig. People have proven some will do just about anything for money.