Obama thinks he would win a third term: Is he right?
President Obama believes the American people would reelect him to a third term if they could, he said in an interview released Sunday.
"Do you think if you ran again, could run again, and did run again, you would be elected?" asked CBS鈥檚 Steve Kroft during聽.
"Yes," Mr. Obama said. "I do."
This is not the first time Obama has expressed confidence in his ability to secure a third presidential term. In July, the president , "I actually think I鈥檓 a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I could win."
Realistically, the question makes little difference 鈥� the 22nd Amendment limits US presidents to two terms.
But Obama鈥檚 projections raise the question of how Americans think he is handling his presidency, a wild roller coaster ride that has seen the pains of a rebounding economy, mounting racial tensions, and the emergence of a new terrorist enemy, the self-titled Islamic State.
This summer alone offers a good example of Obama鈥檚 ups and downs.聽As of late July, 49 percent of Americans said they approved of the president鈥檚 management of the country, versus the 47 percent who said the opposite, according to a CNN/ORC poll.
Despite expressing pessimism about the state of the economy, most respondents said they were then than before his reelection.
It was the second month in a row the president鈥檚 approval numbers came in net-positive territory, CNN reported.
But a month later, Obama鈥檚 ratings began sliding again. Another CNN/ORC poll found that the percentage of Americans who approved of his presidency had dropped to 47 percent, in large part due to his approach to foreign policy issues, reported 海角大神.
Almost 2 in 3 Americans said they didn鈥檛 agree with the way Obama handled the Islamic State or Iran.
As of Monday, a of national polling data showed Obama once again struggling, with 49 percent saying they don鈥檛 approve of his presidency and 45 percent saying they do.聽
Why, then, has Obama remained so optimistic?聽
His statement in July came as the GOP鈥檚 favorability ratings took a downturn, according to the Pew Research Center. Sixty percent of Republicans said they had an unfavorable view of their party, while the Democrats continued to have evenly mixed ratings.
Back then, his approval ratings still put him "in good stead ... for a sitting president,"聽 David Mercer, former deputy financial director of the Democratic National Committee, to Fox News. "That鈥檚 a lot better than what Bush had when he was leaving office for the second time, at about 36 percent."
And despite lackluster polling numbers, the president's second term has included some impressive wins,聽wrote the Monitor鈥檚 Linda Feldmann in September.
Obama is also defying some of the paralyzing pitfalls of a second term 鈥� at least so far.聽As recently as a year ago, he was shunned by members of his own party going into the midterm elections. He was considered a radioactive presence on the campaign trail, and pundits were calling him one of the weakest presidents in the postwar era.
Now, suddenly, he鈥檚 cutting nuclear deals, ending decades of animosity with Caribbean communists, forging far-reaching trade pacts, and soothing the nation on the crucible of race.
Whether or not you support his policies, she noted, "no one can accuse him of succumbing to lame-duck status."聽
