A shaky economy. High unemployment. Skyrocketing deficits. Sinking poll numbers. And now a significant problem with his base.
Things certainly aren’t looking up for President Obama’s reelection efforts.
Following an abysmal showing in North Carolina where 20% of Democrat voters cast their ballots in favor of “no preference” and an utterly disastrous performance in West Virginia, losing over 40% of the vote to a convicted felon, Obama’s had a bit of trouble showing his base—the liberals that dominate the Democrat party—that he’s worth keeping around another four years.
And for further proof, you only need to look at his new position on same-sex marriage:
“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded, that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News.
Of course, this is a switch from his long-held belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. So why the about-face?
He’s losing his base, that’s why.
Look at the polling in North Carolina—the most recent state to define marriage as between a man and a woman:
- Men and women supported it.
- Independents supported it.
- Every racial group supported it.
- Everyone over the age of 30 supported it.
So who didn’t support it? Liberal Democrats. Those self-identifying as Liberals opposed it 77% to 22%. Democrats overall were in opposition by a much smaller margin at 53% to 40%. Clearly, the liberal wing of the party was carrying the statistical weight.
That means that, while almost every demographic group supports the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman, President Obama is betting his political chips on the most liberal American voters—voters that should already be in his corner. But apparently, Obama isn’t too sure about the Democrat base coming out to support him this election.
Thus the switch.
And if the President is worried about losing his base less than 180 days from the election, well, it’s going to be a long several months for the Obama campaign.
Cross-posted at GOHP Blog.
