The Patriot Post® · Following the Polls

Michael Barone: “Barack Obama seems to be following the polls, yet more and more voters express disapproval of his foreign policy – 50 percent in a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, with only 41 percent approving, a new low in that survey. This is a reversal of the public response during Obama’s first term. Then his job approval on foreign policy was usually higher than his job approval generally. So what gives? Obama has seemingly given the public what it wants – including the death of Osama bin Laden. And yet the public is dissatisfied. Which is an illustration of how public opinion polls can be misleading guides for public officials. Poll respondents tell interviewers (or recorded voices on the phone) what they would like at that moment.”