Here is the Recent AP Poll.
And it's getting worse.
This is Barack Obama's biggest problem for 2012:
Three-quarters of the country thinks that we are headed in the wrong direction.
And Barack Obama is the one who's steering the ship.
So, how does the president get beyond this?
Let's look at various factors here.
Status quo versus change:
Campaigning to preserve the status quo only works if there are enough stakeholders in the current status to make them vote defensively on preserving a system that works for them.
Preserving the status quo has been Barack Obama's goal since he got into power.
You can put it a million different ways -- he's trying to keep the system from collapsing! -- but it really boils down to this: He's charged himself with rescuing, protecting and defending the current political and economic order. That's great! And, of course, no one wants this house of cards to collapse, right?
But the problem creeps in when it comes to elections -- as more and more households slip through the cracks, the fewer stakeholders the system has. Why should I care if the stock market is up? I had to cash out my 401k to fund eighteen months of unemployment. Why should my old neighbors care if property values have stabilized? A bank foreclosed on their house two years ago.
I read a statistic last year that something like 40% of households had lost income due to unemployment, reduced wages, or reduced working hours since this seemingly endless economic crisis started.
It's not just the 9% of people in the workforce now who are suffering -- the suffering is very broadly distributed across the population.
So Barack Obama might be saving the system -- but the system is serving fewer and fewer people.
And yes, it's that obvious.
So, one way that Barack Obama could address the 75% wrong direction poll results is to return to change. He could re-style himself as the Candidate of Change, the President of Change -- really! Well, he could at least try.
But this leads to problem number two:
Change in which direction?
If 75% of Americans believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, this obviously includes great percentages of both Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats most likely believe that the country is heading too far to the right.
Republicans most likely believe that the country is heading too far to the left.
So -- which is it?
The answer is: It's complicated and it's really neither one.
Our Liberal/Conservative paradigm is failing to address the central dynamic of our time.
The struggle isn't Left vs. Right, but Top vs. Bottom.
If Obama really wanted to overcome -- and, indeed -- make these poll results work for him ...
He would style himself as:
1) The Candidate of Change, and
2) The Candidate of the People vs. the Elites
This is the way that Obama can re-capture the interest of voters going into the election. He can be the first president that we've had since FDR who sees it as his explicit mission to stand by the little guy.
He could make his campaign and jobs, homes and families.
No -- it might not get him re-elected -- as there are still substantial hurdles in the way, notably the media and the Village (who, by the way, are the demographic probably most heavily invested in the status quo). Not to mention the Citizens United ruling, which effectively allows the elites to pour unlimited money into elections.
But it's better than what he's campaigning on right now.
Er -- can someone remind me what he's campaigning on now?