You Say You Want A Revolution

Some weeks ago, a horrified Democratic pollster Doug Schoen took a look at the polling of the black mood of the country and called it "pre-revolutionary. That mood is even worse today according to a trio of Gallup polls. Gallup finds that 80% of the nation thinks the United States is currently in recession and 71% of Indis and Republicans think the economy will be the same or worse next year. The Economic Cycle Research Institute's current economic projection agrees with the American people, finding we are currently or soon will be in recession. And the ECRI has a perfect record over the past 15 years predicting economic downturns. As a consequence of the economy and disagreement with this government's policies, Gallup finds that only 11% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States, with a record low 3% of Republicans and 9% of Indis feeling positive.

On the other side of the equation, the percentage of Americans reporting themselves very dissatisfied with our situation is at a historical high of 56%. While 2/3 of conservatives and Republicans are very dissatisfied, almost half of Dems also feel this way.

This mass dissatisfaction of the citizenry is affecting enthusiasm for voting in 2012 in substantially different ways. Gallup found that while GOP voters can't wait to get to the voting booth, Dem voters are as likely as not to go. The net GOP enthusiasm advantage over the Dems is 27%, the highest since the aftermath of the Bush 2000 victory with a minority of the popular vote. When you combine the GOP enthusiasm advantage over the Dems with the latest IBD/TIPP poll finding that Indis by a 54% to 36% margin believe that Barack Obama does not deserve reelection, the President is looking at prospects between that of Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter.