OBAMA FOR USA

With congressional Democrats fighting against a Republican wave during an election year full of voter anger and frustration, President Obama rallied a diverse crowd of supporters Friday in Los Angeles that closely mirrored the "hope" coalition that elected him in 2008.

The setting near downtown L.A. with an estimated attendance of more than 35,000 was an ideal crossroads for Obama's voter base. A gathering of college students, whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and people of all ages gathered to hear him speak under the sun.

This election season, thousands of readers have weighed in on Ask America, the Yahoo! News informal polling forum, about Obama, his image and his supporters. Although the van has come and gone from the state, Yahoo! News went to check out the scene to see how his supporters are defending him and the Democrats outside cyberspace.

Obama fans we talked to came to the University of Southern California campus from as far away as Santa Barbara, which is about two hours from L.A. Several students also came from different colleges.

Based on interviews, most of them were there simply to see Obama rather than help him campaign directly for local candidates like incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

No surprise, the president was still popular with this audience, even at a time when the latest Gallup poll found the president's approval rating at 42 percent. Few criticized him out of anger, and all said he needed more time to deliver the change he promised in 2008.

"Too hard to say how much change he's made so far," Dominic Lopez, 22, a communication major at USC, said. "The economy is a drain. He can't fix it in just two years. I'm patient."

Lopez said he mainly came to see the president. As a military chopper flew overhead, cheers went up. "That's how he rolls!" Lopez joked gleefully.

When asked about the tea party, a movement touting fiscal conservatism that is capturing a lot of voter angst this election season, Lopez admitted he'd never heard of it.

"The Boston Tea Party?" he asked.

Another young Obama supporter, Krishna Rajagopalan, 18, who attends Pasadena City College, also drew a blank. Again, "You mean the Boston Tea Party?"

Both responses illustrate how little the midterm elections may be registering with younger Obama voters. Rajagopalan said he had missed class so he could see Obama. He said he is volunteering for the Democrats this election, but his focus remained on the president.

Youth voters, a key constituency for Democrats, do not typically show up for midterm elections, and recent polls show Obama's influence with young voters waning some.

An AP-mtvU poll conducted in September found that 44 percent of college students think Obama is doing a good job, while 27 percent disapprove of his performance. In May 2009, the approval number was 60 percent.

A nonscientific poll in Ask America found that of more than 70,000 responses, 82 percent think young voters are uninspired this midterm election.

Yahoo! user Lidi reflected that feeling, commenting, "The young people made this administration [happen], but they're too disillusioned to care now."

But another important voting bloc for Democrats, African-Americans, seemed the most engaged at the rally.

"The Democrats need to step their game up," Sardia Marley said. "They've been playing it safe, so to speak. If you want to win, you got to dig deep to stay ahead of the GOP. Republicans have now put a little whip on the Democrats. They were sleeping."

Another African-American voter, Charles Pulliam, 64, who lives in Pasadena, said the tea party had set a new level of enthusiasm and agreed that Democrats need to step it up.

"He's still in touch," he said of Obama. "We live in a now-now, me-me society. We lose patience. But he has the long-term vision. When you're out here, you see that he feels, and I feel what he says."

Ask America voters seem to disagree. Sixty-three percent of more than 100,000 responses to a question about Obama's public disconnect said he is out of touch.

After the rally, students trickled out of the central part of the campus, where the rally was held. Jon Rutledge, 19, and Mariam Agazaryan, 19, drove down from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the morning to see Obama.

Agazaryan said the rally did not have the same "hope" feeling of 2008.

"It seemed too much like, 'We're down, we're trying,'" she said. "But I love the president. I'm still a supporter."

By Thomas Kelley

http://obamaforusa.blogspot.com/

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Thursday 4 November 2010

Obama supporters at L.A. rally reflect his 2008 ‘hope’ coalition

OBAMA FOR USA

http://obamaforusa.blogspot.com/

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