Where's My Land of Milk and Honey?

Pew Poll: Obama Is The Great Divider

By JOE MURRAY, The Bulletin
Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Though he rocketed to fame when he pledged to build a bridge between “red” and “blue” America, a new poll shows Barack Obama is experiencing the greatest partisan divide in modern history.

The partisan gap undercuts Mr. Obama’s claimed mandate and shows the nation is far from being united on the various social and economic policies the president has made a part of his far-reaching agenda. It also shows he has fared worse than former President George W. Bush in appealing to members of the opposite party.

A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that while Mr. Obama is experiencing high approval ratings in the first 100 days of his presidency — 59 percent of Americans approve of the president’s job performance — such a rating is the most polarized in modern times.

Out of the 59 percent of the Americans who approve of the president’s job performance, 88 percent are Democrats and 27 percent are Republicans, leaving a 61-point partisan gap. Such numbers show Mr. Obama has not delivered on his promise to reach across the aisle and include Republicans in his administration.

“Ideology is the principal problem Mr. Obama is facing in that he is letting his ideological convictions get in the way of his better political judgment,” said Charles Dunn, dean of Regent University’s School of Government.

With solid majorities in both the House and Senate, the Obama administration has not viewed Republican outreach as a priority and, some feel, made a hard left turn after the inauguration. During the debate over the $787 billion stimulus package, House Republicans unified twice in opposition and Senate Republicans, minus a small number of left-leaning members, opposed the package.

The tensions between the two parties have spilled over to the recent budget debate, where Republicans blasted a budget proposal that would create more than $9 trillion in debt in a decade. The White House, however, did little to include Republicans in the budget negotiations and used its solid majorities in Congress to bypass the minority party.

“The fact that Mr. Obama had a proposal in the House in which every Republican voted against speaks volumes,” Dr. Dunn said, adding it takes great skill to unify your opposition completely.

The economy is not the only issue in which Mr. Obama is letting his ideology trump his political prowess. On the issue of abortion, one the president promised to find common ground on, the White House has nominated two individuals with dubious backgrounds and reversed policies meant to curb abortion on demand.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Mr. Obama’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, has connections with an infamous late-term abortionist and has vetoed laws to make abortion clinics safer. Dawn Johnsen, Mr. Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel, worked as an attorney for NARAL and compared pregnancy to slavery.

Because there seems to be a great divide between what Mr. Obama promises and how he performs, Dr. Dunn explained the poll should not be viewed as a shock.

“Rather than reaching out to people with whom he disagrees, Mr. Obama has chosen to make a hard left turn,” the political scientist said.

Compared to other modern presidents, Mr. Obama is witnessing the largest partisan gap despite the claim his presidency won a solid mandate in the 2008 election.

In 2001, after the controversial Florida ballot recount, Republicans, like Democrats today, rallied behind former Mr. Bush. Eighty-seven percent of Republicans were responsible for Mr. Bush’s then 55 percent approval rating.

Mr. Bush, unlike Mr. Obama, received less criticism from the opposition party. Thirty-six percent of Democrats approved of Mr. Bush’s job performance, as opposed to Mr. Obama’s 27 percent Republican rating, leaving a 51-point partisan gap.

“To have a bigger gap than Mr. Bush is shocking,” Dr. Dunn said. “Conventional wisdom would hold it would be the other way around.”

Dr. Dunn believes the impact of Mr. Obama’s ideological policy pursuits will begin to impact Democratic politics as many conservative Democrats, facing tight re-elections in 2010, may start distancing themselves from a polarizing president. The result could be a bipartisan collation forming to oppose some of Mr. Obama’s more leftist policies.

“Right now Mr. Obama is playing to a European constituency,” Dr. Dunn said. “If he wants to stay political viable, he can’t do that.”

Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us