Yesterday Gallup published a report which includes two charts that may show why Barack Obama could be doomed in his reelection campaign.
Over twice as many people self identify as economically "total conservative" as they do economically "total liberal". 46 to 20 percent.
10 percent more consider themselves social total conservatives than they do social total liberals. 38 to 28 percent.
In February 2012, Gallup found that a majority, 51 percent, thought Barack Obama was "too liberal" compared to only 37 percent thinking so in 2008.
The implications, via Gallup, from yesterday's release:
More Americans identify as economic conservatives than as social conservatives or conservatives in general. And that tendency has increased in the last four years, perhaps due to President Obama's economic agenda. This suggests that a conservative economic message from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may resonate with voters this year.
Americans are also more likely to say they are conservative than liberal or moderate on social issues, underscoring the conclusion that the conservative label has more appeal in the United States today than either the moderate or the liberal label.
Yesterday I said :
Jack Kelly at RCP:
Adjectives frequently applied to Mr. Obama are "smart" (278 million hits on Google), "intelligent" (62 million) and "brilliant" (24 million).
For a man described as "smart," brilliant" and "intelligent" by so many of his supporters, Obama certainly is campaigning dumb.
Let me expand.
There is no doubt that Barack Obama needs his liberal base in the upcoming presidential election.
With that said.....
In playing to that liberal base with recent actions, like rejecting KeyStone, his gay-marriage announcement which the majority considered more political expediency than policy, the contraception mandate which many see as an attack against Religious freedoms, his defense of the individual mandate which is part of Obamacare, but which even those in favor Obamacare, see as a violation of their constitutional rights, his push for a Stimulus 2, Obama is is playing to that liberal base at the expense of the moderate and rapidly growing economically and socially conservative voters.
To put it as simply as possible, with a majority already seeing Barack Obama as "too liberal", in order to cement the 20 percent of the economically liberal voters and the 28 percent of the socially liberal voters, he is moving farther to the left and is alienating 78 percent of the economically conservative and moderate voters and alienating the 69 percent of the socially conservative and moderate voters.
Simple math tells you that is a massive net loss.
As I said yesterday, Obama is campaigning dumb.