Since in the spin wars over the sequester we are going to hear a lot more about how the president is representing the hard-core lefty activist “base” of the Democratic Party, shunning the moderates who want him to cut deals with the GOP to promote growth through “entitlement reform,” I will offer some reality therapy.
In Gallup’s latest weekly summary of presidential job approval numbers, 85% of self-identified “moderate Democrats” give the president a positive assessment. 79% of self-identified “conservative Democrats” do so as well.
And overall, 60% of self-identified “moderates” (including Democrats, independents and Republicans) give Obama a positive job rating.
If we were looking at personal approval rates, all these numbers would almost certainly be higher.
So whatever criticisms Republicans want to make towards the president’s position in recent arguments over the budget, guns, immigration, and the minimum wage, one that really needs to be dropped once and for all is this claim that he doesn’t represent the “real” views of the Democratic rank-and-file.
UPDATE: Since commenter Sue asked, Obama’s current job approval rating among self-identified “liberal Democrats” is 89%.
