Gallup: 38% of Americans Doubt Barack Obama Believes in U.S. “Exceptionalism”

The state run MSM can spin Obama’s rebound all they want … President  Barack Obama has some serious problems with the American voters. A vast amount of Americans believe in American exceptionalism, while they do not believe Obama does as well. There’s something that folks actually

In a recent Gallup/USA Today poll, 80% of Americans think that America “has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world.” However, more than one third say President Obama does not share that belief of “American exceptionalism”. Only 58% believed that Obama shared the “exceptionalism” belief as compared to past Presidents like Reagan, Clinton and GWB at 86%, 77% and 74%, respectively.

On the whole, Americans, by 58% to 37%, believe Obama thinks the U.S. is exceptional, consistent with what he and his advisers maintain. But Americans are less likely to believe Obama holds this view than they are to think the same about Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

When the electorate do not trust that Obama believes in exceptionalism, Obama has a serious problem

Americans who identify as Republicans, likely reflecting the opinions of some of their party’s leaders, are especially dubious that Obama regards the U.S. as exceptional. Thirty-four percent of Republicans believe the president thinks the United States is the greatest country in the world, while 61% believe he does not. Democrats are much more confident that Obama regards the United States as exceptional, while the majority of independents agree.

CNN reminds us of Obama’s comments at a NATO summit where President Barack Obama hardly wowed Americans with his lack of understanding of “American exceptionalism”. Do not think that the public’s lack of confidence in Obama believing in American exceptionalism is not going to bite him in 2012.

At a NATO summit in France last year, the president said, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

Those comments have sparked debate, with some of the Republicans who may make a bid for the next GOP presidential nomination highlighting that U.S. is exceptional but that its status is currently being threatened.

“This could be an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign,”says an analysis by Gallup, in the survey’s release. “Given that Americans already believe that the U.S. is exceptional and that its status as the greatest nation in the world is at risk,Republican candidates’ political challenge would be to convince voters that Obama’s policies and actions on the world stage are to blame, and that he does not share their values on this issue.”