Sean Trende:
President Obama’s job approval these days is not hale and hearty. Here is the trend over the past year:
Chris Cillizza has noted that, if you make this observation online, you’re likely to receive a rash of snarky tweets pointing out that Obama won’t be up for re-election next year. This may be true, but he will very much be on the ballot. Here’s the relationship between presidential job approval in the final Gallup poll before midterm Election Day and the share of the president’s party’s congressional delegation that went down to defeat:
This isn’t a perfect relationship, but presidential job approval is still the most important variable for how his party fares in midterm elections, explaining about half of the variance. The relationship is highly statistically significant: For every point in job approval the president loses, his party loses 0.6 percent of its caucus. (The chart doesn’t measure drop in job approval; just job approval.) So, at 60 percent, the president should lose 5 percent of his caucus; at 50 percent, it is around 12 percent of his caucus lost; at 40 percent, it’s about 18 percent of his caucus lost — which would be 36 seats.
Now the latter is highly unlikely to happen. To pick up 36 seats, the GOP would have to win every seat that Obama won with 56 percent of the vote or less in 2012. Right now the GOP only holds five seats the president won with 54 percent of the vote or more, and only one seat he won with over 56 percent of the vote. Because the GOP’s seat total is well above its historical average (the third-largest majority since 1946), 40 seats probably describes the universe of potentially competitive seats, rather than the number of seats that Democrats are likely to lose.
As I’ve said before, this election isn’t going to be about sixth-year itches or any such electoral mumbo-jumbo. It’s going to be about presidential job approval, supplemented by the state of the economy (which also affects job approval to a degree) and how overexposed or underexposed the president’s party is. Right now, the second factor provides a drag beyond the president’s job approval, while the third factor will work heavily to Democrats’ advantage on Election Day.
The GOP approval ratings are still lower and the lowest they have ever been. Ever. Bye, bye in 2014.
In the “wag the dog” type of MO this radical stews in, any action is acceptable to continue the fawning crowds of cult. Beware of what can be done to distract. Dead Ambassador? Check. Sell out Israel for Iran? Check. Thousands of dead Mexicans to alter the second amendment? Check. Nothing is out of league for the followers of “The Won.” When the SDS admitted to the undercover FBI that if everyone didn’t go along with the progressive revolution, perhaps 20 – 30 million would need to be exterminated, their cause is their religion.
Oh by the way, THIS ONE, is that you Jay Carney?
@This one:
RCP has the Dems leading by a scant 1.6% and that lead is rapidly diminishing. And while approval for Republicans have not increased, approval of Democrats is falling like a rock thrown in the water. IOW, Mr. OFA Troll, the nation doesn’t seem to like your party any better than the other.
Finally This One will be leaving in 2014.