Dear Republicans: No One Cares About These Scandals

Charlie Cook: Polls indicate actual voters don't care about Benghazi or the IRS
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2013 12:25 PM CDT
Dear Republicans: No One Cares About These Scandals
President Barack Obama.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

So-called "scandals" like Benghazi, the IRS, and AP phone record seizures have dominated political discourse in recent weeks. And yet, polls find Obama's approval rating hasn't wavered. Maybe these issues will eventually gain traction with voters, says Charlie Cook in the National Journal—but maybe regular people just don't care. "Republicans and conservatives who are so consumed by these 'scandals' should ask themselves why, despite wall-to-wall media attention and the constant focus inside the Beltway—some are even talking about grounds for impeachment—Obama's job-approval needle hasn't moved," he writes.

Perhaps voters are more focused on the slowly strengthening economy, improving housing market, and stock market highs. Or maybe "the people and businesses polled have written off Washington as a political cesspool, and so these stories don’t affect them much." Either way, he writes, "one wonders how long Republicans are going to bark up this tree, perhaps the wrong tree, while they ignore their own party’s problems, which were shown to be profound in the most recent elections." Click to read Cook's full column. (More Barack Obama stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X