I try to stay on the sidelines about this sort of thing. I didn't think he was ready to be President when he first ran in 2008. I was troubled by the way people were looking at him as if he could walk on water or something, once he won the election. Seriously--did you see the faces in the Obama audience on election night? You'd think there was a resurrection happening out there. Nobody should have that much trust in anyone else without actually knowing the person.

I expected as things dragged on that people would swing back to the right, but it didn't seem like Republicans had much to offer. The thing is, for whatever reason, nobody seems to step back and ask themselves why they only see two options. I always thought there were other parties, other possibilities, or at least other candidates. I don't know at what point I noticed Ron Paul, for instance, but it was curious that it seemed like the media was going out of their way to ignore him as a candidate during the election, despite numbers that were stronger than a lot of people the media *was* paying attention to. That was the first time I recall going to a politician's website and reading their ideas. I was actually impressed with a lot of his points. I suspect he got quite a few from 'Atlas Shrugged' (which I think I hadn't read at the time). The mainstream media seems very uncomfortable talking about that book (and is usually misinformed when they do talk about it), so it makes sense they'd ignore him, then.

Well, all I'll say is, history will be the judge of these two terms of Obama. Beyond that, I'm just curious to see what 2016 will be like. And wondering how I'll see the presidential race now that I've become acquainted with AS and Objectivism. Should be fun.

If you look at the numbers over time, the facts are clear. Pres. Obama is losing the Independents. The Republicans never were his friends and the Democrats always will be. Those numbers grew stronger over time: less approval from the opposition; rallying to the cause from the supporters. However, support from self-defined Independents has evaporated.

Remember, also, that Independent is a big cover. It may be that more former Democrats are now calling themselves "Independent" as they distance themselves from the present Administration. Noam Chomsky's comes to mind. If you think back to the Occupy movement, the first people to leave the President were his left wing.

How on Earth does he still get that high an approval rating? What has he done that was good for anyone other than himself?

Perhaps the problem in the polling results is that people like us hang up on the pollsters.
I know I do.