Americans Not Thrilled About Obama Bypassing Congress

In his
State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama repeated
his shop-worn mantra about being prepared to bypass
Congress “wherever and whenever I can take steps without
legislation.” Whatever slack Americans may still be willing to cut
the president at this late date doesn’t extend to unilateral
action, however—fewer than a third of us are on-board with that
idea.

A
CNN/ORC poll taken after the speech askied people, “In general,
would you rather see Barack Obama attempt to reach a bipartisan
compromise with Congress on major issues, or would you rather see
Obama take unilateral action without Congress to make changes in
government policy that are not supported by Republicans?”

Only 30 percent said they wanted Obama to take action without
Congress, while 67 percent held out for bipartisan compromise.

Overall, the poll found the weakest response to the State of the
Union addresses given by the current president since he took
office. The “very positive” column has drifted downward from 68
percent at the first speech, to 53 percent last year, to 44 percent
this time (though the meh “somewhat positive” numbers are
up a bit).

Americans seem a bit jaded about the guy in the White House, and
letting him go it alone isn’t in the cards.