more signs of a moderate America

Polls are fickle things. A few weeks ago, one was ringing the death knell for Obama's popularity - showing he had slipped below the fatal 40% approval bar. Pundits were ready to read into the low numbers announcing that Obama's willingness to give in to Republicans was losing the faith of Democrats yet not winning him any love from Independents and conservatives.

A new poll from the bi-partisan polling team of McInturff and Hart shows Obama's approval numbers at 45%. I'll try not to repeat the pundit mistake of reading too much into the tea leaves, but three observations come to mind.

• First. Again, polls are fickle. They'll blip and swerve - even when you account for "margins of error." Reading anything into a single poll is just shy of senseless.
• As the authors of the WSJ article point out, if you look at the trendline of Obama's approval ratings, they're pretty consistent for the last six months - and haven't changed that much since last year. This is somewhat remarkable given the state of the economy and ongoing joblessness.
• What that says about Americans and Obama is an open question. Perhaps Americans are becoming more forgiving of leadership and less willing to heap blame on politicians just 'cause the economy sucks. But it could be that there's something about Obama's leadership which have people willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his conciliatory, cross-the-aisle attitude is not as hateful to Americans as some have said. Who knows? Only time will tell how history rates our Compromiser in Chief.