By Kyle Drennen
Appearing on Wednesday’s NBC Today, chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd reported on the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing President Obama’s poll numbers taking a nose dive and made this stunning declaration: “This is as if the public is saying, ‘Hey, buddy, your presidency is over. You may not believe it is, but your ability to lead and convince us that you have the right policies anymore, we’re not listening.'”
That observation was prompted by co-host Savannah Guthrie highlighting: “Let’s show the poll number you call the dagger. ‘Can the President lead and get the job done?’ 54% say no.”
In a prior question about the poll, Guthrie noted how the public was evenly divided – 50% to 50% – on whether Obama was a competent president. Todd replied: “And compare it to President Bush. He’s [Obama’s] actually in a worse situation. The Obama administration is seen as less competent than the Bush administration was post-Katrina.”
Despite all of the devastating news for the President in the new poll, which was released Tuesday afternoon, all of the evening newscasts – including NBC Nightly News – skipped the results.
On Wednesday, only Today covered the poll, it wasn’t mentioned on ABC’s Good Morning America or CBS This Morning.
Guthrie wondered if Obama’s unpopularity would “spell success for Republicans in the midterms.” Todd tried to find a silver lining for Democrats: “Republican numbers are worse now than they were four years ago. It isn’t translating. The public really is angry at both parties….So it’s mildly good news for Democrats, maybe they can separate themselves from the drag that President Obama is.”
Wrapping up the exchange, Todd explained another part of the poll that showed a dip in support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election: “This is a reminder, she’s not – you know, some in the media treat this as if it’s a coronation. That President Clinton is an automatic in 2016. This is the voters saying no, she’s not.”
Editor’s note. This appeared at newsbusters.org. For more on the same topic, see nrlc.cc/1uGjje6