Mason Bradley III, ‘Doah Staff Writer
October 22, 2014

President Obama’s approval rating dropped to an all-time low of 40 percent last week, showing how poorly he has been dealing with current events. This is the lowest his rating has been since he took office, dropping one point from September. The average for previous United States presidents is 53 percent, significantly higher than Obama’s current approval. His approval rating stands at 33 percent among independent voters as well, a number that will not win over any votes from the independents.

When it comes to the economic issues, the country is suffering though; only 44 percent of Americans approve or agree with Obama, while 51 percent disagree. This rating comes in as his lowest disapproval rating in over a year- a positive for the president. However, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant issue has shown more issues. At the end of September, 50 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the issue. Now, however, it is down to 35 percent, and many Americans feel as though they have had enough of Obama’s inability to handle American endeavors.

This has caused a sense of worry among the Democrats for the upcoming midterm elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives. With the Republicans being predicted to take control of the Senate, the Democrats have found that in order to upset the Republicans they will need to target a familiar audience: African-Americans.

Cornell Belcher, a former pollster for Obama, has discovered that African-Americans have not started turning out for polls like they did in 2008 and 2012. In fact, according to him, over half are not even sure when the midterm elections are. This has caused Obama to begin reaching out to his “loyal” African-American base. In 2010, blacks voted at a lower rate than whites, making for a disastrous year for Democrats.

These numbers have started campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats targeting the black voters. In important states such as Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly Arkansas, Republicans have begun reaching out to the black voters, keeping in mind the success of the Obama campaign in 2012- a year in which blacks set a record for voting at a higher rate than whites.

Between the low approval rate of President Obama and the inattentiveness of black voters, the Democrats have many issues on their plates. With the midterm elections coming up in November, it is going to take nothing short of a miraculous push for them to upset the Republicans in their quest to control the Senate.