Try as he might, John McCain is inexorably tied to the incumbent Administration and the Republican Party in general.
Which is why poll results like this should scare the living daylights out of the people at McCain HQ:
Put simply, it’s the 2008 equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s famous question. People don’t think they are better off now than they were. There’s no point, really, in arguing whether or not they are right in feeling this way because in politics, perception is reality and, this year, the reality isn’t perceived to be good.
It’s stuff like this, not ideology or nonsense about a church in Chicago, that decides elections.
Which is why, as Matthew Yglesias puts it, Americans seem poised to elect the black guy with the funny sounding name over the politically experienced war hero.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
It is interesting how many people seem to now say Clinton was a bad president, but economically most people seemed to feel that they were better off. In fact, compared to during Reagan’s era the Clinton era seemed to have a more positive outlook.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:13 am
many people remember reagan fondly because they don’t actually remember his presidency. I did, I survived it and boy it was a rollercoaster ride. The S&L crisis, 31 of his cabinet members convicted of various federal crimes, an unemployment rate of 10.5% (actual, not how they calculated it…), endless pointless military actions in lebanon, 85 billion wasted on “Star Wars”, and a bumbling president already deep in the throes of alzheimer’s running our nation, and nancy reagan forming our public policy based on her personal astrologer’s advice.
Those were the days…
July 7th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Don’t be so optimistic. Republicans for the most part own our media. And they are marvels at manipulation.