Obama Approval Rating: Likability Factor Keeping President Afloat

[WI_DEM]

AP) DENVER -- People like Christine Alonzo are keeping President Barack Obama afloat and giving his political team hope that he can win re-election despite high unemployment and sour attitudes about his policies and the country's future.

Alonzo volunteered for Obama during the 2008 campaign. A few months after Obama's victory, she lost her job. She's still looking for work. Instead of blaming Obama for the economic crisis, she's volunteering full time to help him capture a second term.

"It's tough out there," Alonzo says. But, the 43-year-old adds, "I don't think our president's had enough time to get us back to where we need to be." She still likes him even though she's not hot about the state of the country. "He's got the intelligence, the drive, to get this country back on track."

Heather Barr of Phoenix, a 41-year-old real estate agent in Arizona, didn't volunteer for Obama in 2008.

But seeing the housing collapse up close compelled her to get involved this time. She lost her home a month ago and is living in an apartment. She doesn't blame Obama but rather is giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Said Barr: "I know things aren't great. People are concerned, obviously. But what I hear is, people want to give the president more time. This economic trouble that we're in didn't happen overnight."

This is a factor any Republican challenger must consider: Public opinion polls routinely show that Americans like the president personally even though they don't agree with his policies, even if hurt by them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/24/obama-approval-rating-likability_n_979076.html

[Autumn]

1. Well he is likable

I'll give him that. But is that enough? When someones policies hurt me, I have no desire to vote for them.

[Raschel]

2. He may just be the only sane one out there.