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Pandering to His Base Obama goes left, left, and left again.
Jul 30, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 43 • By FRED BARNES
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The usual strategy for presidential candidates is to appeal to the political center in hopes of broadening their support. President Obama isn’t doing that. He is tilting sharply to the left on issue after issue: immigration, religious liberty, welfare, gay marriage, the environment, race, the role of government. Why?
 Dave Malan
The simplest answer is that his bid for reelection is in trouble, and he’s going where he has the best chance of finding friendly faces. In fundraising, you rely on folks who’ve donated before. Obama is going after voters who’ve voted for him before.
But why focus his campaign on them? Didn’t Obama long ago lock up the various liberal elements and interest groups who make up the Democratic party’s base? Yes, but their mere support is not enough. He needs them to swarm to the polls and vote in the same massive numbers they did in 2008. At the moment, that seems unlikely.
A poll in mid-July by Resurgent Republic found that Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting in the presidential election than either Democrats or independents. Sixty-two percent said they’re “extremely enthusiastic,” compared with 49 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of independents.
In truth, Obama has few alternatives to trying to jack up the Election Day turnout of his base. Pollster Whit Ayres of Resurgent Republic believes Obama has given up on going after white working-class voters. His share of their vote has dipped below 30 percent in polls. And while he won independents handily in 2008, recent surveys show that crucial bloc favors Romney.
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