Forget the polls, said former White House senior adviser David Plouffe said. Americans really do have confidence in President Obama.
In fact, most people “trust this president,” he said, on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Recent polls and surveys have shown otherwise, however. A widely reported CNN/ORC International poll conducted at the end of November found that 53 percent on Americans said Mr. Obama is not honest or trustworthy — the first time a clear majority doubted the president’s integrity, CNN reported. Most of the negative numbers were attributed to the president’s broken promises that Americans could keep their health care plans, if they chose.
Mr. Plouffe, however, largely dismissed that finding, characterizing the president as suffering a “rough patch” from which he would soon recover.
“It’s not just health care, you know, the shutdown affected everybody, confidence in government,” he said, Breitbart.com reported. But Mr. Obama will rebound, he said. “Let’s fast forward to the State of Union and the months after that: Health care working better, a lot of people signing up, economy continuing to strengthen, hopefully no Washington shutdowns.”
At the same time, Breitbart reminded: The Obamacare fines are due to kick in, too, likely driving up dissatisfaction with the health care overhaul once more.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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