Sunday, September 04, 2011
Governor Awesome still polling strong in the Garden State
Notwithstanding a bruising and blustering confrontation with New Jersey's public employee unions, 54 percent of New Jersey "likely voters" still approve of Governor Chris Christie. This compares to 53 per cent approval for President Obama. In this bluest of the blue states, that's quite something for a Republican.
Perhaps more significantly, Christie's approval rating among unaffiliated likely voters far exceeds Obama's, 57 percent vs. 42 percent. That suggests that accurate polling in New Jersey (and probably elsewhere) is crucially dependent on the mix of Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated likely voters in the sample. Even so, if President Obama loses New Jersey in 2012 -- still very unlikely -- he will probably have lost at least 45 other states along the way.
13 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Sep 04, 10:12:00 AM:
How do you explain the voters' near identical support for Christie and 0bama, even though Cristie is trying to accomplish the opposite of the 0bama agenda?
It is like being for the arsonist and the fire department at the same time, is it not?
By 
TigerHawk, at
Sun Sep 04, 12:39:00 PM:
@feeblemind -- I suspect that by and large the "approving" voters are not the same people. The math requires that a small percentage approve of them both, but that we can chalk up to the usual ignorance, I suspect.
By W.LindsayWheeler, at
Sun Sep 04, 01:06:00 PM:
Haven't you all got the memo---From Sarah Palin?
"Polls are for strippers".
Soooo, no more talking about 'polls', okay?
By , at
Sun Sep 04, 03:50:00 PM:
Some polls are better than others. They all have biases. Best to look at changes in poll results over time to see "momentum".
Rasmussen Presidential Daily shows Obama down to 19% Strongly Approve. This repeats his all-time low. This is his core base. He started in office as high as 45% Strongly Approve.
His Strongly Disapprove is up to 40%. He's recently been as high as 45%. I think he'll be over 45% -- and may hit 50% -- by the end of the month.
Compared to Rasmussen, most other polls tend not to show the depth of feeling among likely voters. MSM spins off this.
Sarah's recent speech deserves a thread. She still needs a Henry Higgins speech coach. But her substance was great. She's not declared yet, but she just went "all in" to be the anti-Obama and the Tea Party darling. Establishment Republicans may come to hate her even more than the Left.
By , at
Sun Sep 04, 08:05:00 PM:
Christie is in bed with muslims.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Sep 04, 09:43:00 PM:
I'm not an establishment Republican, but I'm pretty god-damned sick of Sarah Palin and her cultists. They're as bad as the Ronulans. She needs to stick to being an advocate for culture and general policy changes (which she seems to be good at) and stay away from the political arena. Her negatives are WAY too high now to seriously contend for higher office, and all of this "is she/isn't she" flirting with it is unhelpful.
By W.LindsayWheeler, at
Mon Sep 05, 08:47:00 AM:
I find the hate against Sarah Palin really weird. The woman is about as American as apple pie. Knows how to shoot, hunts, raises a family, good looking. She is a Female Ronald Reagan. She is a true believer in the American Ideal. Not a communist like Obama, Hillary, Bill Clinton, Reid, Boxer, Feinstein.
Look at all the Democrat women, Hillary, Boxer, Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and all the rest; they don't know squat about the great out-of-doors. They are not the 'rugged individualist' American frontiersman. They are urban socialists. They all hate America and what America is.
You know what, out of all the candidates, Sarah Palin loves America. She loves. While the others hate, She loves. She is an American.
Rick Perry?--he is Bush III. He is about as dumb as Jorge was.
By , at
Mon Sep 05, 09:25:00 AM:
@DF82 What cult?
Sarah and I happen to think a lot alike. From opposite ends of the nation -- and the American experience -- she and I have worked to similar answers for what to do, quite independently. I'd expect that Sarah would agree with 90% of what I've written here over the last three years. I can almost channel her:
Sarah doesn't care about getting electing President as much as she wants to effect positive change. She'd rather not run, but will if she has to. Romney is Obama in Corporatist Establishment Whiteface. If Perry pans out, she'll support him in the end. If not, she'll run as far as she has to.
Sarah just went "all in" on some policy positions. e.g., eliminating corporate taxes 100%? That's brilliant, when you think on it. And a Righteous Rack!
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Sep 05, 09:40:00 AM:
"What cult?"
Hint #1 about the existence of a cult: Cultists' inability to see the negatives of their chosen candidate.
Hint #2: Exaggeration of the positives.
Hint #3: Referring to a professional politician by their first name. Mitt Romney is referred to as Romney. Rick Perry is referred to as Perry. Michelle Bachmann is referred to as Bachmann. Dick Cheney is referred to as Cheney.
But Sarah Palin's partisans call her "Sarah," reminding me of the Hope and Change fools of 2008 who referred to their Chosen One as "Barack."
[note: Hillary Clinton is exempt from this example; she shares an identical name with another national level politician in the same party (her husband) and you have to use the first name to distinguish]
Hint #4: A conviction that if only they are selected, everything will be better.
Hint #5: Claiming that rational opposition to the candidate is actually irrational; i.e. "hate."
Hint #6: A corollary to those above, but important nonetheless; emotional investment in the candidate.
Continued...
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Sep 05, 09:53:00 AM:
Politicians are politicians. They are not heroes and they are not demigods.
See above: "You know what, out of all the candidates, Sarah Palin loves America. She loves. While the others hate, She loves."
Notice how the pronoun "she" was capitalized? How other Americans were slandered as hateful non-patriots because they were not the Chosen One?
Notice also how lifestyle was equated with values, how familiarity with 'the great outdoors' = loving the country? In another context, that would be environmentalist bullshit, but here it's Truth.
Notice how knowing how to shoot and being pretty was equated with leadership ability?
It's all absurd.
Palin is an avatar of projected values. People see in her a personification of values; some hate her for it, and some love her for it, but it's the same psychological phenomenon. She has become a symbol, not a person.
You don't vote a symbol into the Presidency. Symbols cannot compromise and cannot deal with the ambiguous realities of governance. Symbols ultimately disappoint. And we've had enough of that since January 2009.
By W.LindsayWheeler, at
Tue Sep 06, 08:22:00 AM:
You don't vote symbols???
Really Dawnfire.
What is Monarchy? Was not the King the symbol of his nation? Is not the Royal family the symbol of the nation?
That is what a Leader is--the embodiement of the ideal. He is the leader. The same appeal that is monarchy existed in the psuedo-monarchy of Adolf Hitler as well. He embodied what Germany was, and he loved his country. That is what engendered him to the people. He was psuedo-monarch in that respect. So was Mussolini.
It is innate in human beings because we are herd animals. It is how Nature works.
She can not betray those values because she lives those values. Unlike Jorge Busheron, who was a fake.
I want a leader that LOVES my country. Obama does not love America. Bush and his Father did not love America. If you want to 'change' America---you don't Love America.
Sarah Palin is America. Obama is a bloody communist traitor. The Bushes were masonic One World traitors. The Clintons were communists. Rick Perry is Jorge Busheron the Second.
By , at
Tue Sep 06, 12:21:00 PM:
Hey Ignoramus, Anon Attorney here. Great posts on this thread. My man crush on you is getting huge. LOL.
"Romney is Obama in Corporatist Establishment Whiteface."
--that was fucking brilliant
Reading you evokes a Fight Club response in me. Am I an insomniac with a second life posting on here? LOL.
Keep up the good work, buddy.
By , at
Tue Sep 06, 05:58:00 PM:
Watch this one minute long clip. Trust me, it's fun. The Iron Lady comes out at the end of the year. Meryl's due for an Oscar.
Sarah won't be able to hit this mark. (Who could?) But if she can get "horse shoe" close, she can get elected. If not then Rick's probably the better standard bearer, if he doesn't screw it up (which is quite possible).
Meanwhile Sarah just wrote this Welcome, Union Brothers and Sisters. It's a response to what happened on Labor Day. It's a message that needs to get sent. Sarah is beating on crony capitalists AND union bosses. This is a message that Rick may be able to deliver, but Mitt can't.
There's a huge opening for a new kind of populism. Unless we press, we'll lose the future.
Meanwhile I just read about how the likes of GE have lobbyists who used to be staffers for the members of the Deficit Reduction Gang of Twelve, and they're going balls out. This is the highest ROI thing GE can do -- nothing else is close.
Sarah just proposed 1) flat out domestic energy production; 2) regulatory relief and, 3) amazingly, completely eliminating the corporate income tax. This would get domestic investment capital off the sidelines AND suck it in from abroad (most of the rest of the world sucks more than we do). She also called for facing up to entitlements with something like the Ryan plan. If you combine this with tough cuts in federal spending, we can grow our way out of our current predicament. Unemployment would fall. An incidental benefit would be to substantially reduce opportunities for high ROI corporate lobbying. GE may even hire again in the USA.
Sounds like a plan.
