Why is Obama so unpopular?

[Beet]

If I were him I would probably be moving more to the center, but besides that it's hard to see why his approvals are so low. Yes, George Bush had low approvals at this point in 2006- but there was a clear, ongoing major event (the Iraq war) that could be pointed to as the reason. Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Eisenhower were all popular late into their second terms. Those who were not were beset by war, recession or scandal. Obama, realistically is not.

Basically, I think his low approvals are a symptom of the damaging polarization that has gripped the U.S. increasingly in recent decades. It's a guy who made his name in 2004 talking about the unity of red America and blue America coming together, becoming the most polarizing president since WW2. The ironic thing is, 2009-2012 convinced him that compromise politics don't work with the GOP congress. However, Bill Clinton has been right all along. Compromise politics is necessary to get things done. What Obama didn't realize back in 2009 and still doesn't realize today is that economic collapse is what doomed his brand of politics; in such an environment the mood turns ugly and people want fire in the belly populism. But in better times (today), his original brand of politics might actually work. It was awfully popular in 2007 and early 2008. Obama hasn't noticed that the one theme common in all elections from 2009 to today is that voters rewarded the Dems when they looked more moderate than tea party Republicans, but rewarded Republicans when they rejected extremism. So O's original style has a better chance than ever before. Yet instead of realizing his chance, he has allowed himself to become bitter and jaded towards the idea of working with the GOP.

[King]

Grandma won't shutup about how awful he is and so everyone else in the family guesses they don't like him either.

[Flake]

Obummercare!!!!!!1!1111! BENGHAZI!!!!! FAST AND THE FURIOUS ! !! !! !! !    !

Everybody
Barack
Obama
Left
America

[IceSpear]

He's not really that unpopular. A 43% approval rating isn't good, but it's not like it's in the Dubya 20-30% range.

[AggregateDemand]

The olds hate him. The youngs and poors realize he betrayed them.

[Adam Griffin]

Gallup tracking continues to show a relatively insignificant yet steady increase in his approvals; currently at 44% in the latest three-day rolling average.

At this point in the presidency (December of sixth year), he's doing much better than W or Truman, ties LBJ and is slightly behind Reagan.

His term average to date is 48% (2009-present); he's beating Truman, Carter and Ford in this metric, and is within statistical ties of W and Nixon (and let's be real: both Bushes' true averages are heavily-skewed by those surges to 80%+ support due to war). Obama's second-term average seems to be around 44%, beating out Truman, Nixon and W. Barring an economic catastrophe, he's reached his low point, and I think will finish out his term around 50% (especially if the economy continues to accelerate like it has been doing).

The olds hate him. The youngs and poors realize he betrayed them.

Yes, this more than anything is what is holding his polling numbers down.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Obama is a black, you see.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Obama is a black, you see.

Yup, this.

[Tender Branson]

Because of things like this (large number of ignorant Americans):

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-09/approval-ratings-hit-5year-high-for-gop

[King]

Most Americans confuse the debt and the deficit. I've heard people talk about the $15 trillion dollar "deficit"

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Obama is a black, you see.

Yup, this.

Uppity black dictator, men......let's not sugarcoat this.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Obama is a black, you see.

We have a winner.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Obama is a black, you see.

"America's first half-white President."

[The_Doctor]

The economy. The poor recovery is why he's unpopular. That may change in the next one year although I don't think he'll ever be popular again. Too much has been baked into the cake. It's been six years and people have formed a definite opinion that has hardened into permanence for the rest of his presidency.

Basically a recovery will lift him a point or two but people won't willingly credit him or willingly change their minds about him at this late date.

[TDAS04]

Many stupid reasons.  For one thing, he's too "exotic" (he's black, people think he's foreign, etc.).  Also, people don't know what his policies are.  Obamacare is not that radical, but Republicans have convinced too many people that there will be "death panels" and that Obamacare "will pull the plug on Grandma."

Not all people who oppose Obama are stupid or racist, and some oppose his policies for respectable reasons, but a significant chunk of the opposition is pretty idiotic.  The Democrats are too blame for a lot of that, since they've not defended his policies well, and they overestimate the ability of the public to see through the bizarre Republican talking points.  Republicans are louder, so people listen to them.

[bedstuy]

Political polarization, racism and general cynicism/apathy.

For most people, saying "I dislike President Obama" is more about making a statement about themselves than it is a thought out opinion based on policy.  And, let's face it, it's easier to be a critic than a defender when someone is under attack.  It's always easier to be a ignorant critic than an ignorant defender, because a critic doesn't need to lay any ideas on the table.  A supporter has to defend Obama's perceived record.  A critic can just say "something has to be done!" without knowing what something is. 

And, that's the great sadness I have about our country.  So, many of us are ignorant and disconnected from any real principles or history.  We don't listen to experts, we don't trust anyone and we don't have communities that guide us towards a rational, clear-headed view of the world.  And, that's truly the failure of Obama, he's a good person who believed too much in the high minded ideals of this country. .

[King]

Obama unpopularity is a combination of loudmouths who never gave him a chance from 2008 (40% of America) plus disengaged voters who had intangible and unreasonable expectations of him (15-20% of America).

Honestly, I don't believe we'll have a popular President ever again. Clinton was the last one to come out positive but he was just at the beginning of FOX "news" and online "news" that have derailed Bush and Obama with constant attacks and cynical bitching.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Obama was considered a change agent, not a typical Democrat and once people saw through that, they turned against him, and gave him subpar ratings like the rest of the politicans in Washington, like the fellow Congressmen.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The conservative right hates him because they're bigots.
The Tea-Party hates him because they're stupid.
The civil libertarians hate him because spying/torture.
The young hate him because of failed promises.
And the various flavors of far left hate him because he's a moderate Republican.

I think that covers most of it, but that the real economy is pretty anemic doesn't help either.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I disapprove of his tenure for many reasons:

1. Clearly believing, on issue after issue after issue, throughout his term, that partisan democrats have a monopoly on good ideas, despite saying that he doesn't believe such a thing.

2. Preferring defaulting on our debt over negotiating.

3. His refusal to pass stimulus for the middle class, instead catering to the moguls and big banks on wall street, resulting in a recovery that has been extremely sluggish and, six years into his presidency, leaves underemployment in double digits (it was ~8% before the recession), and wages/labor participation much too low.

4. Refusing to work with republicans when he passed his health care reform, despite promising he would, and then passing a law too long for anyone to read, filled with terrible provisions such as the 30 hour work week and the medical device tax.

5. Lying about certain provisions of said health care law over and over and over again, then trying to deny having lied about them, and refusing to get the website properly betatested.

6. Refusal to permantely cut overall military spending or push for fair trials for Guantanamo bay prisoners, despite promising to do so.

7. Taking too long to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have not accomplished enough to merit being stretched out as long as they are/were.

8. His "policies are on the ballot" 2014 gaffe, which may have sunk Begich and Hagan, both of which I really like.

9. Benghazi

[Lief 🗽]

^^^ is that a real post or are you trolling bro? Because half of those points are not true.

[Oakvale]

^ Point #9 is literally "Benghazi" so I assume so.

[The Mikado]

^ Point #9 is literally "Benghazi" so I assume so.

i'm totally uncertain as to what Obama is supposed to have done differently regarding Benghazi, a tragedy whose aftermath seemed to be handled reasonably well. We didn't even invade a country that had nothing to do with it and cause thousands of American soldiers to die for no reason as a result!

Yes, that's a cheap shot. It's still worth remembering that that was a thing that happened in response to previous terrorist attacks.

[porky88]

The Media.

The Media loves to build somebody up and tear them down. They will do it to the next president as well whether he or she is a democrat or republican. Negative news also sells. The Ebola story made the media money because people tuned in or clicked the link. Nobody blinked twice at the November Jobs Report. People take the good for granted.

[Boston Bread]

I disapprove of his tenure for many reasons:

1. Clearly believing, on issue after issue after issue, throughout his term, that partisan democrats have a monopoly on good ideas, despite saying that he doesn't believe such a thing.

2. Preferring defaulting on our debt over negotiating.

3. His refusal to pass stimulus for the middle class, instead catering to the moguls and big banks on wall street, resulting in a recovery that has been extremely sluggish and, six years into his presidency, leaves underemployment in double digits (it was ~8% before the recession), and wages/labor participation much too low.

4. Refusing to work with republicans when he passed his health care reform, despite promising he would, and then passing a law too long for anyone to read, filled with terrible provisions such as the 30 hour work week and the medical device tax.

5. Lying about certain provisions of said health care law over and over and over again, then trying to deny having lied about them, and refusing to get the website properly betatested.

6. Refusal to permantely cut overall military spending or push for fair trials for Guantanamo bay prisoners, despite promising to do so.

7. Taking too long to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have not accomplished enough to merit being stretched out as long as they are/were.

8. His "policies are on the ballot" 2014 gaffe, which may have sunk Begich and Hagan, both of which I really like.

9. Benghazi (LOL)

Yay republican talking points! Although I'd forgive you if you disapproved of the GOP congress even more, seeing as half those points are the GOP's fault (bolded), and some more on top of that.