Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/3098074555/">Center for American Progress Action Fund</a>
Remember the supposed White House “scandals” in which Obama administration officials tried to get two Democratic politicians, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) and Colorado’s Andrew Romanoff, to drop their respective US Senate bids by offering them other jobs? If you answered “No,” shrugged your shoulders, or just don’t care, then you’re likely among the 44 percent of voters, according to a new Rasmussen poll, who say such offers are standard operating procedure for Washington. Only 19 percent of those polled said they saw anything unusual about the Sestak and Romanoff snafus. “While politicians profess to be shocked at the job offers, voters see business as usual,” Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, said.
Now, that’s not to say the two events mean nothing to voters. According to the poll, 62 percent of respondents said the White House’s efforts to get Sestak and Romanoff to ditch their Senate campaigns would be somewhat important to how they vote this fall. (Only 32 percent said the White House’s gaffes will have a major impact on how they vote.) The public’s view of the Obama administration’s ethics also took a hit from the Sestak-Romanoff flub: 40 percent believe the Obama White House is less ethical than most of its predecessors, while just over 30 percent say Obama and co. are more ethical.
What’s certain is that, on voters’ priority lists, Dropout-gate isn’t anywhere near the top. Any candidate railing the administration’s supposed ethics lapses—and not economic or national security issues, which huge majorities list as their top priority—should just, well, drop out now. Word on the street is the White House is hiring.
