COMMENTARY | Around my small town, very few people talk about being better off than they were when President Barack Obama was elected. In fact, amongst the boarded up buildings of businesses that have folded over the last year, there are the business that are operating on shortened hours. Business owners trying to hold on. Customers struggling to pay for the items they need. According to poll numbers reported by ABC News, my town isn’t alone. And that isn’t good news for anyone, including Obama.
ABC News reports that the ABC News/Washington Post poll results show about half the nation (51 percent) disapproves of how the president is handling jobs. Sixty-eight percent said the country is “headed seriously off on the wrong track.” Only 45 percent of respondents think that the much-reported economic recovery is underway. Thirty percent say they’re worse off financially under this president. Of all the presidents since 1940 who have started their re-election year, like Obama, with lower than a 50 percent job approval rating, only Richard Nixon has been successful in being reelected.
There is a bright side for Obama, however. The president’s overall job approval rating is rising, up from 42 percent in October to 48 percent now. Those who approve of the job he’s doing at handling the economy has increased by six points in recent months. Roughly eight in 10 of the Democrats who responded to the poll continued to blame George W. Bush for the nation’s bleak economic outlook.
But looking out across my town, there’s not much of a bright side these days. Whatever economic recovery there is doesn’t seem to have reached this rural place yet, and I can’t help but wonder how many of us will still be here when it does. Gas prices are rising again, and CBS News reports that the increase is fueled on hopes for the economic recovery. AAA puts the average price at $3.378 for regular gasoline, up from $3.22 a month ago. That’s a tough pill to swallow for those of us who haven’t seen the economic recovery yet. Jobs remain low. Things aren’t getting any easier, and — whether it’s his fault or not — that’s no help to Obama as the days draw closer to the next election.