What’s going on here? President Obama is getting a bump in the polls as the year ends.
How can this be? We keep reading about “plummeting” poll numbers. Republicans kept harping on that as they ran hard against Democratic incumbents in the mid-term election. The strategy worked. The GOP gained control of the U.S. Senate, strengthened its hold on the House and snatched away a couple more governors seats for good measure.
Well, it seems that Americans might be willing to give the president a final chance as he enters the last two years in the White House.
With Republicans now running all of one branch of government — not just half of it — they’ll need to produce some actual results rather than seeking to block everything Democrats, including Barack Obama, want to do.
The Real Clear Politics average of polls puts the president’s approval rating at 42.6 percent, which still isn’t great. But the margin between approval and disapproval is now less than 10 percent, which is another interesting indicator of what the public thinks aboutĀ Obama’s standing.
I’m hoping for the best the next two years.
Split government isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The president will have to compromise — some more! — on some issues. As for Republicans, they too will need to show more of a willingness to bend a little. The president, after all, does have that “veto pen” and the GOP will need more than the margin it enjoys in Congress to override any presidential veto.
The end of the old year might produce a new beginning in the year coming up.
Eternal optimist that I am, I remain hopeful the federal government can do some good for the country it is designed to help.