Karl Rove has Barack Obama right where he wants him. Really.
Republicans have been looking for some kind of good news lately, since things haven't exactly been going their way. While the market was still trending downward, they had their hopes up -- nothing like a good "Obama Bear Market" meme to keep their spirits up. But, alas, the market has evidently hit bottom and is now in the process of recovering.
What's a poor wingnut to do?
So now they've taken the handy little life preserver thrown their way by Zogby polling:
The honeymoon is over, a national poll will signal today as President Obama's job approval stumbles to about 50% over the lack of improvement with the crippled economy. ... Pollster John Zogby said his poll out today will show Americans split on the president's performance. He said the score factors out to 'about 50-50.' "
In the minds of Rove and Sean Hannity and their fellow wingnuts, this is proof positive that Obama's evil "socialist" policies and his "arrogance" and "radical" ways are turning the voters off in droves. Soon the world will be theirs! Bwah hah hah hah hah.
Of course, the other polls -- Gallup shows it more like 62-29, while CBS' poll showed him with a 64-21 approval-rating margin -- aren't much help in making that case.
But then, as Nate Silver points out, we aretalking about the worst pollster in the world:
All told, between 48 contests that he's surveyed over the past two election cycles, Zogby's Internet polls have been off by an average of 7.6 points. This is an extreme outlier with respect to absolutely anyone else in the polling community.
Ah well. Back to the drawing board, boys. I'm sure by next week you can figure out another way that having Barack Obama kick your posteriors across the countryside is really, really good for Republicans.
