Obama Finds Re-Election a Tougher Sell With Economy Dragging

October 19, 2011, 12:25 AM EDTBy Julianna GoldmanOct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Lisa Hensley was thrilled when President Barack Obama unexpectedly showed up during the lunch hour during the Countryside Barbeque in Marion, North Carolina, a town of about 8,000 along the Blue Ridge Mountains. A registered Democrat, the 50-year-old accountant echoed the presidents message on his three-day bus trip through North Carolina as well as Virginia: We need to be for America, not just for Democrats or Republicans, Hensley said. Still, she said she wont be voting for Obama next year. Not unless something changes dramatically, she said after Obama greeted diners on Oct. 17. It would have to be something monumental. Hensleys dissatisfaction with the president stems from the performance of the U.S. economy, as well as it underscores a central challenge for Obamas re-election campaign in the battleground states that he won in 2008: His ability to deliver the kind of change Hensley wants is limited. With opponents framing the 2012 election as a referendum on the presidents handling of the economy, Obama is using a three- day bus tour through North Carolina as well as Virginia that ends today to sharpen his attacks against Republicans, who have blocked his latest plan to use a combination of tax cuts as well as government spending to reignite growth as well as hiring. Now he wants Congress to take up components of the $447 billion proposal he offered last month. Were going to give them another chance to listen to you, to step up to the plate, to do the right thing, Obama said last night during Greensville County High School in Emporia, Virginia. We will give them another chance to do their jobs so that you can keep your job, or get a job. Battleground States Obama won Virginia as well as North Carolina, two Republican- leaning states, in 2008 as well as their combined 28 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. He is trying to hold both next year, especially as h! e will l ikely be battling to keep swing states such as Ohio as well as Pennsylvania in the Democratic column. North Carolinas unemployment rate is above the national average, during 10.4 percent. While that is down from the high point of 11.3 percent in February 2010, it is well above the 4.7 percent rate the state experienced in June 2007. Virginia, which has a broader base of military as well as alternative federal government jobs, wasnt hit as hard by the recession. Still, the jobless rate there rose to 7.2 percent in December 2009 from a low of 2.8 percent in March 2007. It was 6.3 percent in August. Job Approval An Oct. 6 Public Policy Polling survey shows just 44 percent of North Carolinians approve of Obamas job performance, as well as 53 percent disapprove. The presidents slight win in North Carolina in 2008 -- by 0.3 percent of the vote -- made him the first Democratic presidential nominee to capture the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976. An Oct. eleven Quinnipiac University poll shows Obamas job approval rating during 45 percent in Virginia, up slightly from 40 percent in September. Still, 52 percent disapprove. Obama took 52.6 percent of the vote there in the last election, the first time a Democrat had won the state since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Obamas advisers say the presidents approval ratings will likely remain low until the Republicans settle on their presidential nominee. In the meantime, they say, Obama is presenting voters with a preference -- contrasting his jobs proposal, which the White House says will immediately boost employment as well as improve the economy, with what they describe as Republican efforts to block progress while also trying to roll back the presidents signature legislative accomplishments, including health-care overhaul as well as financial-market regulation. Hitting Republicans Obama has sought to tap populist anger as well as direct it during congressional Republicans. The Republican plan would gu! t regula tions as well as let Wall Street do whatever it wants, Obama said during Asheville Regional Airport, where he started the three-day bus tour. In a separate interview with ABC News, Obama said the publics frustration is evident in the Occupy Wall Street protests that have sprung in cities across the country as well as in the Tea Party movement. Both on the left as well as the right, I consider people feel separated from their government, Obama said in the interview, excerpts of which were released by the network. They feel that their institutions arent looking out for them. He said his proposals to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans as well as close loopholes for some corporations, including oil as well as gas companies, will restore the sense that were also asking a fair share from everybody for the country. If we can go back to that, then I consider a lot of that anger, that frustration dissipates, he told ABC. Outside Washington This trip marks the second time Obama has traveled to North Carolina as well as Virginia since announcing his jobs plan on Sept. 8. He has also stopped in the crucial swing states of Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania as well as Michigan. He is taking a fight that has largely been an inside- Washington fight as well as moving it out to the country, said Quentin Kidd, a political scientist during Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. What he is doing, the bus tours as well as such, is what he has to do to proceed to engage people. Obama said his strategy now is breaking up the $447 billion measure he proposed in September into some bite-sized pieces. Action in Senate That will start in the Senate, where Democrats have the majority. Party leaders in the chamber are seeking a vote on a sustenance that would provide $35 billion in aid to states for teachers as well as emergency workers. That has been the primary focus of Obamas remarks on the bus trip. In his remarks yesterday, Obam! a said h is jobs initiative would be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, repeating several times that the top 1 or 2 percent of Americans, including himself, should pay their fair share. The question is, if its paid for, wont add to the deficit, wont result in increasing your taxes, will instead result in lowering your taxes, will put people back to work during a time when the unemployment rate is too high, why wouldnt we do it? Obama said in Emporia. It turns out that folks in Washington arent listening to you. The legislation is unlikely to pass. Republicans, who have a majority in the House as well as enough votes in the Senate to block consideration of legislation, have rejected raising taxes. They also object to additional spending when the nation is struggling with a budget deficit that was $1.3 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. It was the third consecutive year that the shortfall has exceeded $1 trillion. Blame Republicans The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Obama is trying to blame Republicans because his previous initiatives have failed to lift the economy. I know hes desperately interested in trying to blame anybody else, but hes the president of the United States; he set the agenda; he got everything he wanted, as well as it didnt work, McConnell told reporters in Washington yesterday. When the president took an August bus tour through parts of Minnesota, Iowa as well as Illinois, he held town-hall style meetings as well as answered questions from the audience. This trip is more scripted. Other than a forum with teachers yesterday, he has kept to the same speech outline. While the crowds have largely been supportive, that isnt necessarily an indicator for the presidents political prospects. North Carolinians are just gracious as well as kind, Obama said before heading into Virginia. Even the folks who dont vote for me are nice to me, he said.--With assistance from Roger Runn! ingen in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Jim Rubin.To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Emporia, Virginia, during jgoldman6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva during msilva34@bloomberg.net