RUSH: I mentioned at the top of the program there’s a lot of polling data out. There’s a Fox News poll out, and the headline here: “As Obama Starts His Sixth Year, 74% Say the US is Still in a Recession — A third of voters say they like Obama and his policies, a dramatic drop from 47% who felt that way in October of 2012.”

This is a dramatic plunge. Thirty-three percent say they like Obama and his policies. That used to be near 50% just a year and a half ago. In addition, 62% now say that they dislike the president’s policies. That’s up from 51% the month before his reelection in 2012. So again a year and a half. Sixty-two percent dislike; used to be 51. It’s an 11% increase or plunge from the Obama at some point. And of course, according to Obama, this is all because of me and Fox News.

That’s what he’s just told the New Yorker. Yep, it’s me and Fox News because we are lying to you about him and his policies, and if it weren’t for me and Fox News, you would be liking Obama. You’d be liking his policies, and you’d be understanding it’s all working, he says. I’ll tell you what’s appalling to me and amazing — although mathematically, again, it makes sense. It’s stunning to me that even 33% still like his policies.

I guess when you figure that that’s the percentage of people on the dole, knowingly on the dole, it does. Not everybody on the dole looks at themselves that way. Let’s say statistically 50% of the country receives a government check; not all of them are gonna think that they’re on the government dole. Some are gonna think, “I’m owed that! You know, I’m trying to find a job, and I can’t find a job, and I’m owed this unemployment,” but they don’t want to be there forever.

So of the hypothetical 50% are getting a check, probably 33% are happy to be on the dole as a lifestyle, and that would explain 33% being satisfied. But a question presents itself, and that is this: Why haven’t we seen more polls asking people if they feel like we are still in a recession? ‘Cause the Regime is saying that the recession ended in 2009. The Regime is saying the recession ended in 2009 in June and that the recovery began and there’s a recovery going on ever since, and that’s where the 44 months of job growth have their roots.

You know, I seem to recall during the Bush years there were all kinds of polls asking people if they “felt” like we were in a recession — when we weren’t in one, by the way, when we weren’t even close to being in one. The media was trying to create an impression that we were in a recession and that it was deepening. I mean, even without polling data, the Drive-Bys used to tell us that most people felt like we were in a recession under Bush, even when the economy was booming.

Probably because the Drive-Bys kept telling us that we were in a recession. They kept telling you, “Well, you might have been doing okay, but your neighbor isn’t. It’s really bad out there.” That’s the trick they pulled during the Bush years. By the way, according to this Fox poll, among all issues Obama receives his highest approval on… What do you think it is? It is 39%. What do you think the issue is on which Obama gets his highest approval? (interruption)

No. No. His highest approval? “Income inequality.” I kid you not. I kid you not. Obama gets his highest approval on income inequality, 39% in the Fox poll. But according to all the other polls, nobody cares about income inequality. In fact, there’s another poll out there that says something like 74% of the American people don’t think it’s the federal government’s job to deal with income inequality. Stunning. Yet, income inequality is the focus, we are told, of Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: One more little polling update here before we get back to the phones. This is the Associated Press, and it’s their own poll, the AP-GfK poll. The headline of their story said people see Obama as “a nice guy but a so-so president,” and this poll finds that less than a third of us (less than 33% for those of you in Rio Linda) consider Obama to be above average. Now, that’s gonna come as a shock to both the Regime and the media, because I’m telling you, they are living in a fantasy world where they believe…

Despite the polling data that’s out there, they believe that people are still swooning over Obama. They know there’s some problems with Obamacare, but they think that Obama still has people at rapt attention, for example, when he make a speech. They’re living in this illusion that Obama still has this messianic hold on people. So this is gonna come as a shock. I’m sure it did to the AP people.

“Less than a third of the American people consider Obama to be above average, but nearly twice as many find him likable as a person.” Why would that be? Maybe you don’t automatically have to dislike someone when you disapprove of them as a president or you think they’re doing a bad job. Frankly, I think disliking Obama is somewhat explainable. I mean, this is a guy that lied to you about keeping your doctor if you liked him. This is a president who lied to you about keeping your health insurance.

That’s something deeply personal to people, and he lied to people about it for three years. It’d be very understandable if people didn’t like a guy that lied to ’em. A lot of people that bought into Obama are young people that now don’t have careers and can’t find careers. They can’t find jobs that’ll pay ’em more than 29 hours a week. I mean, if you look at it in a strictly human sense, there’s all kinds of reasons to be angry if you want to be, in addition to finding him “a so-so president.”

So there’s gotta be something else going on here that would cause people to say, “Oh, yeah, I really like the guy! You know, he’s kind of a so-so president, but I really like him. You tell the pollster I said I really like him. I think Obama’s great! He’s not a very good president, after all, but you tell ’em I really like him.” I wonder why that would be? I don’t know. There’s gotta be an explanation for it.

I mean, imagine you’re the pollster, and it’s not a robo-call. You’re actually on the phone, you’re taking somebody’s opinion, and you call ’em up and they agree to talk to you, and they say, “Well, I’m not sure. I think his job as a president, I’m somewhat disappointed, so-so.” “Do you like him, though?” “Oh, yeah! I love him. In fact, you tell whoever’s taking this poll that I really like Obama.”

But I think it needs to be pointed out, it’s not as if the American people disagree with Obama because they don’t like him. On the contrary, at least according to this poll, they find Obama likable despite the fact they disagree with his policy issues. And, despite the fawning and misleading coverage by his PR team (the Drive-By Media), they still think he’s a so-so president. It’s fascinating to me.