David Gregory spoke with Dan Pfeiffer on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, where he pressed the White House Senior Adviser on Obama’s recent low approval rating among Democrats.
Pfeiffer didn’t address much about the polls very directly, but said that the shutdown and problems with healthcare.gov had some impact for everyone in Washington, including the president.
“Here’s what the president is going to do,” Pfeiffer said. “He is going to lay out the terms of the debate in this election as a choice between Democrats who support an agenda of opportunity for all, for Republicans for an agenda of opportunity for a few. And let’s not forget, this president wrote the book on running and winning modern campaigns. So we’re going to take all of our resources and help Democrats up and down the ballot.”
And then Gregory asked Pfeiffer, “Right, but do they want your help? Is the president more of a liability than he is an asset at this stage for Democrats?”
Pfeiffer responded, “We are going to set the terms of the debate, we’re going to provide our organizational ability to help them if the president’s going to raise money, we want to help them in every way we can.”
Gregory continued to press and asked again, “Liability or asset?”
“The president will be an asset in every way possible and help these candidates,” Pfeiffer said.
Full video below (the Obama approval rating exchange starts at 1:58).
Here’s a writeup of the full exchange:
GREGORY: Let’s talk about domestic politics and the President’s approval rating. We had a big poll out, Wall Street Journal, NBC News this week. Here’s what it found – overall job approval for the president 41%, handling of the economy 41%, same number when it came to foreign policy. And here’s what’s striking – approval is 74% among Democrats. Sounds high but it’s the lowest that the president’s had in terms of his approval among Democrats. He can’t very well blame Republicans for this, the president has really slipped.
PFEIFFER: Well, look. On this, public polls are a little bit all over the map and on the same day your poll came out another poll came out that showed the president gaining six points in the last couple months. But look, I’ve looked at a lot of data, and let me tell you what we see. There’s no question that everyone in Washington, the president included, took a big hit from the double whammy of a shutdown and the problems with healthcare.gov. We have stabilized and we’re working our way back and if you look at the aggregate of public polling we’ve gained three points in the last couple months. But there’s no question we have more work to do.
GREGORY: But there’s so much disappointment, there’s so much disappointment in Washington. But this is an election year. And Democrats are worried. And the NY Times this morning, I’ve been reading Jonathan Martin and Ashley Parker write this: “Democrats are becoming increasingly alarmed about their mid-term election fortunes amid President Obama’s shrinking approval ratings, a loss in a special House election in Florida last week, and millions of dollars spent by Republican-aligned groups attacking the new health law. The combination has led to uncharacteristic criticism of Mr. Obama and bitter complaints that his vaunted political organization has done little to help the party’s vulnerable congressional candidates.”
PFEIFFER: Well look, there’s no question this is a tough map for Democrats, that’s what happens when you win a lot of elections like we did in 2008. But the good news is that we have good candidates and most importantly, we’re on the right side of the issue that matters most to the public: jobs and the economy. Here’s what the president is going to do. He is going to lay out the terms of the debate in this election as a choice between Democrats who support an agenda of opportunity for all, Republicans for an agenda of opportunity for a few. And let’s not forget, this president wrote the book on running and winning modern campaigns. So we’re going to take all of our resources and help Democrats up and down the ballot [crosstalk].
GREGORY: Right, but do they want your help? Is the president more of a liability than he is an asset at this stage for Democrats?
PFEIFFER: We are going to set the terms of the debate, we’re going to provide our organizational ability to help them if the president’s going to raise money, we want to help them in every way we can.
GREGORY: Liability or asset?
PFEIFFER: The president will be an asset in every way possible and help these candidates.
[Featured image: NBC News / Meet the Press video]
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