Barack Obama: Still Popular

One reason why Republicans so often cite Rasmussen Reports is that other pollsters have consistently shown much more — and more resilient — support for President Obama and his policies. The new Gallup Poll is a kidney punch to Republicans: by a two-to-one margin, people side with the president over them on the stimulus. Sixty-seven percent of voters approve of the way Obama has “handled the government’s efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill,” with 25 percent disapproving. By a margin of 48 percent to 42 percent, they approve the way the Democrats have handled it. But 58 percent oppose the way the Republicans have acted over the past month, with just 31 percent in support.

I’m not surprised by this: I think Republicans have acted (and prematurely popped open champagne) on two assumptions that aren’t true right now.

The first is that voters rejected them in 2006 and 2008 because they spent too much money; the subtext is that voters oppose big government spending, and reward the party that cuts it down. This seems like a tautological argument that’s not backed up by history — how much did former President Ronald Reagan cut spending, after all? The second false assumption is that Republicans are winning the spin war because their arguments are leading newspaper articles, columns and TV broadcasts. There’s a Republican senator or congressman making the anti-stimulus case on cable at basically any moment.

The problem: So what? If a tree falls down during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” does it make a sound? Americans don’t actually watch these shows, and they’re not coloring their opinions of the president.

UPDATE: Byron York sees another story:

They’re still losing, but now they’re doing it with more people watching.