Obama's Popularity Surges in Virginia - At Least for Now

Voters can be fickle - especially Virginia voters based on a new polls - and have a "what have you done for me lately" mindset. A concept lost on the Democrats in 2009 and which helped saddle Virginia with the twin Christianists Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli. At the time I blamed the debacle on national Democrats' failure to have delivered anything substantive - not that Creigh Deeds' lackluster campaign didn't work to make matters even worse. Now, in the wake of Obama's mission that took out Osama Bin Laden, it seems Virginian's are happy that Obama delivered something for them. The key, of course, is whether he can maintain the mindset all the way into 2012. Obviously, a lot can happen between now and the 2012 election and given Obama's general spinelessness, I'm not making any bets that he can maintain popularity. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on Obama's popularity surge in Virginia:
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The targeted killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden boosted President Obama’s prospects for reelection over several potential Republican challengers in the battleground state of Virginia, according to a Washington Post poll. The poll provides a view of the impact of bin Laden’s death in a state widely viewed as a bellwether for Obama’s chances for reelection nationally.
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Against all five potential GOP contenders tested in the poll, Obama stretched his margins after the death of bin Laden. In a hypothetical matchup against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, for example, interviews before the bin Laden announcement showed voters splitting 48 percent for the president and 46 percent for Romney. Afterward, Obama edged ahead, 51 to 44 percent.
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Against former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and businessman Donald Trump, twin 19-point Obama advantages swelled to 31 points in interviews conducted in the three days after bin Laden’s death.
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Still, big vulnerabilities remain for the president, the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Virginia in more than 40 years. More than half of all Virginia voters are dissatisfied, even angry, with the Obama administration’s policies, and a vast majority retains a bleak view of the economy. Those opinions did not change with bin Laden’s death, leaving open the question of whether, or how long, the spike in Obama’s fortunes will last.
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A large contingent of the Obama coalition stayed home in 2010. Obama’s major challenge next year is bringing it out again — and holding it together. At this stage, with his bin Laden bump included, the president maintains much of the support he had 31 / 2 years ago. Fully two-thirds of voters younger than 30 approve of the job Obama is doing; in 2008, he won 60 percent of the state’s young voters.
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The economy is also seen as being in far worse shape. Nearly nine in 10 see the national economy as in “not so good” or “poor” shape, with the proportion saying poor more than doubling since 2007. Now, nearly three in 10 see themselves as “falling behind financially.”
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As I keep saying over and over again, until the housing market stabilizes and foreclosures and lender high handedness is reined in, it's foolish to think the economy will significantly improve. For the life of me, I don't know why the Congressional Democrats can't seem to figure that out.