President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail for two Democratic candidates on Sunday, Reuters reported. But the early departure of crowd members in Maryland during Obama's speech proved to be yet another souring proof of the president's growing unpopularity.
As the November midterm elections draw closer, Obama attended a rally to support Maryland gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown, who is running for governor, and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who is running for re-election. The lackluster response from the audience in Maryland, however, allegedly involved some heckling and a steady stream of people trickling towards the exit.
During his pitch on Sunday, Obama implored the crowd to get out and vote in the upcoming elections, according to New York Daily News.
You've got to get your family to vote," the president, who took the stage after Brown, said in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, near Washington.
"You've got to get your friends to vote. You've got to get your coworkers to vote. You've got to get that cousin Pookie sitting at home on the couch - he's watching football right now instead of being here at the rally - you've got to talk to him and let him know it is not that hard to exercise the franchise that previous generations fought so hard to obtain," he continued.
Since history shows a majority of Democrats to be absent from the midterm election polls, "Obama has spent most of his campaign-related efforts this year raising money for struggling Democrats, who risk losing control of the U.S. Senate," according to Reuters.
Additionally, Obama is also planning to campaign in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maine.
But given his low approval rates and sagging popularity thanks in part to a mediocre economy, the war with ISIS terrorists and anxiety over the Ebola outbreak, most Democratic candidates are choosing to keep a distance from the president while they campaign this season, according to a Wall Street Journal blog.
Gubernatorial races, however, are safer ground for the president, particularly in Maryland where Brown enjoys an 11 point lead against Republican opponent Larry Hogan, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics.
"Some in my party feel" that the president is a political liability, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, said. "But nobody is more popular with the core Democratic base than the president in his hometown."
It is "nonsensical" that Obama is constantly blamed for the current troubles. "(Everything) is the president's fault for some people," he added.
