Government Shut Down

Government may on the verge of closure and Newt Gingrich once again on the national scene, it feels a bit like back in the nineties, although the sounds of Boyz II Men, sweet no longer play on the radio for the rest of us through the long cold nights. Looking at the polls since then and now, some numbers are similar. But the context has changed, and Obama seems likely to fair less well than Bill Clinton did not fifteen years ago.

In 1995, a week ahead of the government's closure on November 14, President Bill Clinton's 52 percent approval rating. By the time that ended in the closing on January 6, and had fallen to 42 percent, but it was a passing relationship, and two weeks later back in his own 52.

Obama, on the other hand, the head of the government to shut down with low numbers - his popularity is 47 percent, according to a poll by Gallup released Thursday.

The level of public cynicism has not changed in fifteen years.

Right before the closure of 1995, said 45 percent of those surveyed said they feel Clinton was genuinely trying to resolve the problem, while 52 percent said he was playing politics, and the numbers that went just as in the continuation of the crisis. I felt even more Republicans and putting on a show.

Numbers in the poll this week, almost identical. And 51 percent called Obama's political efforts and completely honest; two thirds say the same thing about Republicans.

But Obama is the president who worked hard to portray himself as above the political fray, and the perception that the public does not seem to be bought. Moreover, Clinton was the Republicans as a foil, and the majority of the public blamed the Republicans going into the strike, which continued to portray after it ended.

Ballot this week, on the other hand, appears to the public almost evenly divided on whether President Obama and his administration or Republicans in Congress and the party at fault.