Obama's honesty problem: How the president lost his biggest political asset
For the first time, a majority of Americans think Obama is not honest and trustworthy
As the government shutdown came to a close last month, President Obama said Washington would have to "earn back the trust of the American people."
The president apparently has a lot of work to do on that front as well.
For the first time in his presidency, a majority of voters do not think Obama is "honest and trustworthy" according to a Quinnipiac poll released late Tuesday. In the survey, 52 percent of respondents said Obama was not honest, while only 44 percent said he was, a striking change from January 2011, when nearly two thirds of voters trusted the president.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Also worrisome for Obama, that sentiment extended across different demographics. Six in ten independents said they no longer trusted the president, while majorities in every age bracket — including the 18-to-29-year-olds who have long been Obama's most ardent supporters — said the president wasn't trustworthy.
Obama's approval rating, meanwhile, slipped to an all-time low of 39 percent.
It's a stunning reversal for a president who, even when voters didn't like how he was running the White House, still came off as an honest steward. During the government shutdown, for instance, polls found that voters were far more willing to trust Obama than his GOP rivals. And in October, voters believed the president was honest by a 54-41 split, per Quinnipiac, numbers that Mitt Romney would have killed for.
Yet ObamaCare's terrible rollout has greatly eroded that invaluable asset, possibly taking with it some of the president's leverage to negotiate with Congress in looming battles on immigration and the budget.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
By all accounts, the debut of ObamaCare's online exchange marketplace, a central piece of the overall health-care law, was a disaster. As a result, six in 10 voters now say they don't approve of how Obama has handled health care, according to Quinnipiac.
The bigger blow to Obama's credibility, though, came when insurance companies began dropping coverage for thousands of Americans because their existing health-insurance plans did not meet ObamaCare's more rigorous standards. Obama famously (and repeatedly) vowed that people who liked their insurance plans could keep them.
The Washington Post's resident fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, gave Obama four Pinocchios — denoting the biggest possible fib — for his vow that no one would lose insurance they liked.
"The president's promise apparently came with a very large caveat," he wrote. "'If you like your health-care plan, you'll be able to keep your health-care plan — if we deem it to be adequate.'"
Further, while ObamaCare is expected to drive down premiums in the insurance market as a whole, some Americans will actually see their out-of-pocket costs rise. That would, to some, appear to contradict Obama's claims that the health-care law would lead to big savings.
Perhaps as a result of such revelations, only 19 percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac poll said the quality of their health care would improve thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Forty-three percent, on the other hand, said the quality of their care would get worse.
Some Democrats — especially those with potentially difficult re-election campaigns next year — have begun to ding Obama for the apparent contradictions.
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) charged the president over the weekend with "grossly misleading the American public." And even Bill Clinton, though hardly Obama's closest political ally, took a swipe at him, saying he "should honor the commitment the federal government made to these people and let them keep what they got."
Feeling the heat, the president himself took the unusual step last week of issuing a public apology, saying in an interview with NBC, "I am sorry that [people who have lost coverage] are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me."
If voters don't come back around on the president, it could seriously hinder Obama's ability to wield the bully pulpit and score the big policy wins he's eyeing for the remainder of his term. Getting ObamaCare running smoothly — and soon — would be a big step in that direction.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
A history of student protest at Columbia University
The Explainer Anti-Israel demonstrations at NYC's Ivy League university echo protests against Vietnam War and South African apartheid
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Trump is ruled in contempt'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Hainault sword attack: police hunt for motive
Speed Read Mental health is key line of inquiry, as detectives prepare to interview suspect
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published