Keeping quiet about Obama’s popularity

President Obama’s net favorability rating among North Carolina voters jumped 15 points from May to June according the Pope Civitas Institute, though the Civitasers would rather not talk about it. 

The Civitas June poll finds that 46 percent of North Carolina voters have a favorable impression of Obama and 42 percent view him unfavorably.  That’s a net favorability rating of +4. In the May poll, Obama’s favorable rating was 42 percent with 53 percent viewing him unfavorably.  That’s a favorability rating of -11.

The Civitasers put out press releases about some of the findings in their June poll, but Obama’s dramatic jump in popularity was not one of them.

Director Francis Deluca did say in a press release about the public’s opinion of the oil spill that “Obama has not been able to boost his job performance numbers by showing that he is up to handling the oil spill crisis.”

Well, his numbers improved by 15 percent. Voters like something he is doing whether the Civitasers want to admit it or not. 

Maybe Under the Dome and other state government blogs that consistently report on the Civitas press releases could find the time to look at the entire poll themselves and tell their readers about some of the findings that don’t make it into the group’s right-wing talking points. 

Leaners, government jobs, and less anger at incumbents

One press release about the poll that was widely reported was the claim that if the 2008 gubernatorial election were held today, Republican Pat McCrory would defeat Governor Beverly Perdue. 

That result came after adding in people who said they were leaning toward one candidate or another, which is not the same as voting for them.  A few weeks before the 2008 election Civitas released a poll with the headline “McCrory maintains lead,” but the actual poll showed Perdue ahead 41-48. 

The Civitasers added the leaners and proclaimed that McCrory was ahead by two points. Turns out the leaners were not so reliable and Perdue was elected.

The Civitasers issued a couple of other releases issues to spin the latest monthly poll results, though not as many as usual. Here are a couple more things that the Civitasers didn’t bother to mention about their own June survey. 

The  poll found that 56 percent of North Carolina voters believe that “government hiring new employees helps offset the job losses suffered in the private sector and puts people back to work,” while 35 percent disagree. That must have driven the Civitasers nuts. 

The last question in the June survey asked voters “Are you so dissatisfied with the direction North Carolina is headed that you believe all incumbents should be voted out of office, regardless of party?”

Fifty-five percent said no and 34 percent said yes. 

If you are keeping score at home, here is the forgotten headline from the June Civitas Poll. 

“North Carolina voters increasingly approve of President Obama, believe government jobs are an important part of the economic recovery and don’t want to throw all incumbents out of office.”

Confusion about the General Fund

Here’s a weird line from the Locker Becki Gray in her summation of the General Assembly session. (Shockingly, she didn’t like it.) 

“This year’s final budget topped out at $20.6 billion. General Fund spending increased by $200 million when you count the $1.6 billion in federal stimulus money.”

General Fund spending did not increase by $200 million. The stimulus money is not General Fund spending. It might be far to say overall spending increased, though that too is misleading without mentioning that Medicaid costs and enrollment increases account for the extra expense. 

And even that doesn’t mean any services expanded. It means that the state has to educate more kids. 

But General Fund spending did not increase and state spending per capita is lower than it has been in 14 years. 

From the Fringe

Locker Jon Ham is becoming a regular From the Fringe participant. This week he claims that Obama’s recovery is looking a lot like the Soviet Union “because the Newark Mayor has ordered the government to stop buying toilet paper.”   Ok. 

Ham also praises a right-wing blogger who called the protestors arrested at Wake County Board of Education racists.  Huh? 

But Ham’s high point this week was praising Andrew Breitbart and biggovernment.com for the expose on USDA employee Shirley Sherrod including video purporting to show her boasting to a meeting of the NAACP about discriminating against a white farmer.  Sherrod was then fired by the Obama Administration. 

Ham was almost gleeful in describing the incident and slamming the mainstream media.

“I should point out that it was no mainstream media outlet that covered this story. It was Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com that revealed the tolerance for racism at this particular NAACP meeting, and it was spread via Fox News and blogs. Increasingly, alternative media is the straw that stirs the drink.”

By the end of the week, the raw footage of her speech was released and it was clear Breitbart had edited the tape to misrepresent Sherrod’s comments and everybody started apologizing to her, even most right-wing pundits who condemned her the day before. 

Ham said he was sorry for “linking too quickly and not going with my instincts,” but that didn’t stop him from attacking Sherrod and the NAACP again. 

And Ham never took back his criticism of the mainstream media for not rushing to air this story as fast as Fox and the right-wing blogs.  

He is still happy that they still “stir the drink”—no matter how foul it smells.