Selling the Illusion of Economic Success to Salvage Elections

[Draggingtree]

Accuracy in Media: Selling the Illusion of Economic Success to Salvage Elections

Roger Aronoff — November 2, 2014

 

President Barack Obama is trying to salvage what most polls indicate is about to be a dismal election for Democrats by focusing on his administration’s supposed economic successes. It makes sense, in a way, since his foreign policy—to the extent that there is one—is a complete disaster; the administration is caught up in a series of scandals (Benghazi, IRS, Veterans Affairs, to name a few) that fortunately for them, the media choose to ignore; and the administration’s incompetence, or worse, in managing crises such as immigration and Ebola, and even the safety and security of the President, has become glaringly obvious.

 

But the public doesn’t appear to be buying this narrative of economic success. The recent Associated Press poll shows that 58% disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy, while only 42% approve. TheRealClearPolitics average is a little better than that, showing that the disapproval gap is more like 12.5%, rather than the 16% reflected in the AP poll.