Poll: Country in a funk
Photo 
President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009, prior to boarding Air Force One for a trip to Fort Hood, Texas to meet with families of the those wounded and killed in last week's shooting.
WASHINGTON — The euphoria of 2008 is over: America is in a funk.
Elected last November on a wave of optimism, President Barack Obama now finds himself governing an increasingly pessimistic country in recession while muscling through Congress a health care reform overhaul and weighing more troops for the 8-year-old Afghanistan war.
The latest Associated Press-GfK poll shows that Americans grew slightly more dispirited on a range of matters over the past month, continuing slippage that has occurred since Obama took office.
People were more pessimistic about the direction of the country than in October. They disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy a bit more than before. And, perhaps most striking for this novice commander in chief, more people have lost confidence in Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan over the last month. Overall, there's a malaise about the state of the nation.
"It's in pretty bad shape," said truck driver Floyd Hacker of Granby, Mo., a Democrat who voted for Obama. "He sounded like somebody who could make things happen. I still think he can."
Still, Hacker said, he questions the president's approach to the economy, what the U.S. is trying to accomplish in Afghanistan, and Obama's focus on health care, adding: "He can't handle everything at one time."
Public attitudes like that are troubling for a president trying to accomplish an ambitious agenda at home while fighting wars abroad, as well as for a Democratic Party heading into a critical election year. It will look to stave off losses a new president typically experiences in his first midterms. A third of the Senate, all of the House and most governors' offices will be on the ballot.
The findings underscore just how quickly the political environment can change, a lesson in cautiousness for out-of-power Republicans salivating at the murky state of the electorate and buzzing with energy after booting Democrats from rule in Virginia and New Jersey governors' races last week.
It was just over a year ago that Obama won the White House in an electoral landslide and Democrats padded their congressional majorities. The country was riding high with optimism by just about all measures when Obama took office in January.
"Hope" and "change" were en vogue back then. But "change" didn't happen overnight, as the rhetoric of campaigning crashed headlong into the realities of governing. And "hope" slipped in a country that always has clung to it.
Now, Obama's approval rating stands at 54 percent, roughly the same as in October but very different from what it was in January just before he took office, 74 percent. And some 56 percent of people say the country is heading in the wrong direction, an uptick from 51 percent last month and 49 percent in Obama's first month as president.
The economy is by far the most important issue on Americans' minds. Unemployment hit 10.2 percent last month even though the administration has promoted glimmers of improvement and most economists say the recession is over.
Those jobless figures help explain why as many people said the economy got worse in the past month as said it got better — and it's not many people who thought it got better, just 22 percent. Most say the economy stayed the same, and most don't approve of how Obama is handling it — just 46 percent approve compared with 50 percent last month.
"He did good on getting Wall Street up and running. But I'm not going," said independent Jay Huffaker, 33, of Knoxville, Tenn., a construction worker who has been unemployed for a year and a half. The country is in terrible shape, he said, adding: "It seems like it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse."
America also has grown more lukewarm on Obama and the wars as he tries to wind down the one in Iraq and considers ramping up the one in Afghanistan.
Compared with October, 45 percent of people now disapprove of Obama's handling of Iraq, up from 37 percent, while 48 percent now disapprove of his handling of Afghanistan, up from 41 percent; a majority of people in the country opposes both wars. And more than half — 54 percent — now oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan, an increase from 50 percent last month.
"We either need to do something to win the wars, or just come home," said Republican Heather Johannessen, a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs of Minnesota's Twin Cities, who thinks the U.S. is in a holding pattern in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
On health care, about half of the country approves of how Obama is doing on his signature domestic issue — virtually unchanged from October. In a major victory for Obama, the House passed a sweeping reform of the U.S. medical system over the weekend. But the fate of the measure is uncertain in the Senate, where moderate Democrats who are necessary for passage are balking at the cost and various provisions.
Only a third of the country approves of how Congress is doing.
The AP-GfK Poll was conducted November 5-9 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,006 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Nov 12, 2009 at 10:55 p.m.
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"kiowamohican" - you are correct concerning the value of gold. As the ads say the commodity is a safe hedge against devaluation of a counties currency and is never worth zero. I almost agree you concerning the two party system here in the United Snakes, I personally vote for the lesser of two evils, or is it the evil of two lessors!?!
Nov 12, 2009 at 12:44 a.m.
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Yeah; I love the progressive ideas, and "giving them a chance". It's a guarantee to destroy prosperity, and all you have to do is short sell the dollar; and cash in, as things go down the tube. I'm not complaining; it's easy $$$ when you bet against foolish policies. And it should be noted that the policies of Bush are no different, and just as reckless as Obama. Really does not matter what party has power anymore. Both are awful. Both administrations supported TARP, both supported the endless bailouts (banks, auto's, insurance companies), and both have put the most corrupt insiders at the federal reserve, and treasury. Who continue to make one disastrous monetary policy after another.
Nov 12, 2009 at 12:25 a.m.
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Eight years of republican rule and President Obama is suppose to fix everything in less than a year. I hope all you whiners have to put up with eight or more years of progressive policies from Democrats. Its time they got a chance but im sure it will take at least eight years to clean up the republican mess.
Nov 12, 2009 at 12:21 a.m.
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Yeah; the gold bugs have really been getting killed. It's not like it keeps hitting a new record high every day. Not like India and other G20 countries are dumping their junk US dollars, and converting them to gold. Who on Earth would want to own US dollars? Not when you have a federal reserve bank who recklessly destroys the currency, and politicians who won't ever stop spending. Since the creation of the federal reserve, the dollars purchasing power has only dropped about 95%. With the current monetary policy, and endless governmnet spending, the dollar is on the fast track to total junk status.
Nov 12, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.
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Oh, goody, we have a gold bug on the boards! Everybody knows to stay far, far away from them, right?
Nov 11, 2009 at 11:56 p.m.
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Callitasiseeit:
You pretty much hit it dead on. The big story all over the financial news the past month is the explosion in gold prices. It hit another record high today at over $1100 per troy ounce. Gold is of course a counter/inverse measurement of the US dollar. And as the dollar continues falls off a cliff, gold will continue to rise. As long as we keep this idiotic monetary policy of easy money, the dollar will continue to be hammered, and become more and more unstable. Unstable currencies have always lead to the fall of all great Empires, and countries, throughout history.
Gold is a great investment to reap the benefits of this reckless policy of our governmnet. However; my favorite way to take advantage of it, is to simply short the US dollar on the FOREX exchange. You can make a fortune shorting, covering, and shorting again; over and over again when you know something is going to crash to near worthlessness. GM stock was a perfect recent example of that. Unfortunately the crash of the dollar will lead to far more of a disaster then the crash of any company/equity.
Nov 11, 2009 at 11 p.m.
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dub190~ very well said!
Nov 11, 2009 at 10:53 p.m.
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Socialism and the destruction of Capitalism are not the answer. Bowing our heads to political correctness, out of touch parenting, and paying sky high taxes will not help us. Letting our AVOWED ENEMIES even possibly create nuclear arms and oppress their people is a very bad idea.
Bowing to and sheltering the feelings of terrorist murderers looks horrible to the simplest of human beings.
Regulating business to the point of choking, in the name of a hoax like global warming, due to any other factor than the SUN is a waste of life, money, time, and resources.
Trying to silence and LABEL the people who are against things like this, and much more, is only making the White House look foolish.
Then I could go into religion, and the lack thereof, IMO putting us in this consequent-less moral free fall.
Nov 11, 2009 at 10:32 p.m.
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I would really like to know how its going to get better when EVERY time I go to the store, another thing that was made in USA less than a year ago is now made in china ....vacuum cleaners and lawn mower/snow blower engines are the latest things I've noticed..
Nov 11, 2009 at 10:05 p.m.
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Hey where is our "hope" & "change". Well I knew from the get go that the change Obama talked about was going to amount to the "change" in my pocket and my wallet empty...
Nov 11, 2009 at 6:49 p.m.
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Nobama! http://www.lp.org/
Nov 11, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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memyself_i: what was so historic about the election of 04?? i agree its totally obamas mess to fix...but you have to realize that the last administration most def put the hole in the boat to begin with.
Nov 11, 2009 at 5:16 p.m.
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why is it that the only people who EVER refer to him as the messiah are the ignorant people who didnt vote for him?? im not sayin you are ignorant if you didnt vote for him, im sayin you are ignorant for thinkin that ANYONE who did vote for him thought he was some kind of messiah. it also seems like they are the only ones who thought maybe he would right the sinking ship in his first year of office. we could have elected anyones god for president and we'd be in the same situation. its just not possible to get that many jobs back that quick.
Nov 11, 2009 at 4:39 p.m.
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The hardcore Obami will never admit their error in crowning Our Dear Leader and prophet/messiah Barack Hussein Obama II. They have much too much invested to stop him from his continued destruction of our once great nation.
Nov 11, 2009 at 4:20 p.m.
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If people would have voted for the best canidate instead of wanting to be a part of history maybe we wouldn't be in this situation.
Nov 11, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.
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McCain and Palin would have been better? Don't even go there! Ron Paul maybe, but not them two.
Nov 11, 2009 at 2:32 p.m.
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Too much focus on too many things. Most important thing is the economy and until that improves drastically, Obama will look like a failure. He promised change, but the change is headed in the wrong direction. More and more people that voted for him are starting to realize this. I don't care who does it, Democrat or Republican, but this Country is in deep sh*t and we need to be dug out fast.
Nov 11, 2009 at 2:05 p.m.
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there is an easy st in beloit....and that was quite the dumb comment by NVgrf
Nov 11, 2009 at 1:50 p.m.
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With the continuing printing of money and overspending by our government (Republicans and Democrats alike) the real funk will come when our dollar hits rock bottom and we become a second class country financially. Buy gold.
Nov 11, 2009 at 1:33 p.m.
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NVgrf: I wanted to "mapquest" Easy Street. Can you provide me with its ZIP code?
Nov 11, 2009 at 9:35 a.m.
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If John McCain would have been elected, we would have been on easy street by now.
Nov 11, 2009 at 9:15 a.m.
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i HOPEd he would CHANGE the marijuana laws and he has started. thank you mr president.
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