Hope for the Democrats in November?

Midterm elections are just over two months away and the electoral view is that the Republicans have a chance to take over. President Obama has an approval rating of approximately 44%, causing some to question what will happen in November. Democratic strategist Doug Schoen joined Varney & Co. this morning to share his opinion.

“More likely than not [there will be a] dead lock in the Senate,” said Schoen. “The House [will go] to the Republicans.”

Schoen does not think the Democratic Party has abandoned President Obama. “[They] like him personally,” said Schoen. “[They have] doubt about where he’s going. Hope and prayer, I think, that things will succeed with the growing recognition that things are not doing so well.”

President Obama’s overall approval rating has declined 15 percentage points over the past year. Congress’s approval rating has dropped 14 points. Approval among independent voters has fallen 17 points.

Where is the leadership?

When asked if this is the Democratic Party Schoen grew up in, he answered, “Not the one that I knew. I grew up in a fiscally prudent, moderate, pro strong national defense Democratic Party. The party of John F. Kennedy, Henry Jackson, Hubert Humphrey; and a party that was centrist, and Bill Clinton by the way.”

However, it is not over for the Democrats. There are still ways to fix the decreasing approval ratings and return to the top. “I think we need ideas to stimulate private sector employment. I’d go beyond just small business,” said Schoen. “Cutting spending, balancing the budget makes sense. If we do that, combined with stimulating the economy, maybe just maybe we’ll find the gap between the Republicans and the Democrats in fine fiscal sanity.”