The new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that the Democratic base's faith in Barack Obama's ability to deliver on the most important issues to them has collapsed:
The Post-ABC poll found that the number of liberal Democrats who strongly support Obama’s record on jobs plunged 22 points from 53 percent last year to 31 percent. The number of African Americans who believe the president’s actions have helped the economy has dropped from 77 percent in October to just over half of those surveyed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
African-Americans are at the core of President Obama's base going into the 2012 Election. He got upwards of 95% of their votes in 2008, amidst historically high turnout. Those numbers have never been achieved even by other Democrats in the past, and they were a big part of his electoral success.
For African-Americans, jobs and the economy almost always rank as the most important issues, even relative to other demographics. For example, as of June, the Gallup poll found that 30% rated jobs and unemployment as the most important issue, more than any other demographic, and 25% rated the economy in general as the most important issue. So for more than half of black people in America, the economy and jobs loom above all other issues in priority, and this has consistently been the case for years.
And it's no wonder. Blacks have long faced difficult economic circumstances, and the current recession has been particularly harsh. The official black unemployment rate is now at 16.2%, and fewer than half of working age black men in America have a regular, full-time job. Unemployment rates amongst particular groups such as youth, inner-city residents, and non-college graduates are even higher, 30, 40 and 50% in some cases.
It should be obvious to any political observer that blacks are not going to vote Republican in 2012. But Obama would do well to consider that even a small amount of leakage from his base of supporters in the African-American community could be significant. If blacks in Cleveland, Cincinatti, Denver, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Philadelphia, Orlando, Pittsburgh, etc., don't turn out in the numbers that they did in 2008, swing states like Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Florida could be at risk of flipping back into the "R" column.
And putting aside questions of politics, the black unemployment crisis is a moral crisis. I firmly believe that human beings evolved on this planet to work, and that without meaningful, productive work, we crumble physically and emotionally in ways that those of us who are fortunate to have work cannot imagine. It's not necessarily the responsibility of the government to provide everyone with a job, but the President certainly bears some responsibility for a situation in which 25 million of our fellow citizens find themselves unable to find one for themselves.
It's time for President Obama to truly employ the "laser-like focus" on jobs and the economy that has been promised since the beginning of this administration. No more screwing around, WE NEED WORK, MR. PRESIDENT!!!