Barack Obama and the American Public : The First 18 Months

How did Barack Obama, a “center-left pragmatic reformer” advocating “a moderately activist government constrained by a sense of trade-offs” polarize the public and the Congress so quickly and so thoroughly during his first 18 months in office? First, Americans were polarized from the start in their opinions of Obama and his agenda; the coalitions supporting and opposing the Obama administration as of the first half of 2010 look remarkably like the rival electoral coalitions of 2008. Second, the deep recession and high unemployment have fueled a combination of anger and anxiety that has left many Americans looking for someone to blame, and, as exemplified by the “Tea Party” movement, susceptible to conspiracy theories fingering various culprits. Third, Republican leaders, aiming to revive their electoral fortunes, made the strategic decision to court the Tea Party enthusiasts and sympathizers rather than trying to broaden their party's appeal to moderates (the strategy seems to be working for 2010). Fourth, inverting the pattern of the Bush administration, Obama's policies toward Iraq and Afghanistan have attracted considerable bipartisan support, but this has done nothing to narrow partisan differences in evaluations of his overall performance, which have been dominated by polarized reactions to his domestic more controversial initiatives, particularly on economic stimulus and health care