Answer to Question of the Week #3

Obama's presidency has been interesting to watch for the past three years. He came into office as a man with little experience in contrast to his opponent, John McCain. People have been able to see changes like the Health Care Bill or the Jobs Plan. Still, Obama's approval remains split. While 42% of Americans believe Obama has a decent Jobs Plan, 51% don't. There's no clear majority here, so it shows that Obama is not completely out of favor or in favor. It just means that it will be hard to predict whether or not he will win the presidency this year.
Back in September 2011, Gallup took a poll pertaining to how Obama has done compared to Bush. More Americans were inclined to say that Obama is better (43%) rather than worse (34%) and 22% seeing know difference between Bush and Obama. But compared to Bill Clinton, who, like Obama, is a Democrat, few people think that Obama has done better (12%) than Clinton. Unlike Obama, Clinton came into office with a lot more experience, knowing what policies he wanted to implement. Decisiveness is a key trait as a leader and Obama's approval ratings have dropped in those respects. In March 2011, Gallup's poll displayed Americans' view of Obama as a strong leader had dropped by 7% from April 2009. Overall, between understanding American's problems and sharing their values, Obama is at 21% decline.
As far as parties go, Obama is particularly popular with the Democratic party and only partially with the Republican party. 83% of Democrats feel Obama shares their values while a mere 18% of Republicans do. Surprisingly, Obama is split with Independents. 47% of Independents feel Obama shares their values which is slightly under 50%. If these polls are correct, Obama will probably be relying on the Democrats and Independents this year to reelect him as president.
It's hard to say at this point whether or not Obama has a strong chance of being reelected as president. Unfortunately over the past year, Obama's personality traits have trended downward meaning he is not connecting with the public. As president, the goal is to lead while still staying on base with Americans and that shouldn't be a huge task for Obama. This next year will test Obama to see whether or not he can raise ratings in the polls and be reelected to represent America once again.