Two years out from the 2012 presidential election, it would be unwise to put too much stock in the results of polls on whom Americans do — or don’t — want to be candidates for president. A lot can change in that time period.
Still, it is remarkable that yet another public opinion poll has found tremendous dissatisfaction — among Democrats — with the prospect of President Barack Obama’s being the Democrat candidate in 2012.
You read correctly: Not only Republicans disagree with the direction in which the president is taking our nation; many Democrats would like a different candidate two years from now.
Reporting on the latest presidential survey, McClatchy Newspapers noted: “Nearly half of [the president’s] own base — 45 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — want someone to challenge him for the Democratic nomination, according to the poll. And, assuming he wins re-nomination, barely more than 1 in 3 voters, or 36 percent, said they’ll definitely vote for him, while nearly half, 48 percent, said they’ll definitely vote against him.”
The McClatchy survey’s findings mirror a recent Associated Press poll.The AP survey found that 47 percent of Democrats believe Obama should be challenged within his own party for the nomination in 2012. Only 51 percent of Democrats said that he should not be challenged by a fellow Democrat.
Such massive doubts even among members of his own party — plus huge Democrat losses in the recent midterm elections — should be a clear message to the president that he is on the wrong path. Unfortunately, he gives no indication that he will take that message to heart.
Whom do you want for president in 2012?