Alexander Burns at Politico explains that a recent Quinnipiac poll has bad numbers for everyone in Washington, but better numbers for President Obama than you might think. For example, although voters disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, by a whopping 56-38 percent, they still trust him more than Republicans to fix the economy, 45-38 percent. On particvular issues, like raising taxes on the wealthy to help close the budget deficit, voters overwhelmingly side with the President over the Republicans.
I hope these numbers allow the President to feel a bit easier about his prospects and, consequently, to be a little less eager to strike a deal that entails more capitulation to the GOP than it does concessions from them. There needs to be a balance and Obama seems to have put his finger on the center of the electroate pretty well. Better to say, the GOP has been so busy pandering to its base, that they have driven off the reservation of the sane people, leaving the political center to Obama.
