One of the things Conservatives in Britain had to get used to after 1997 was that people no longer judged an issue on its merits. They took their position according to who was for it and who was against it.

Pollsters started to find that if, for example, you asked ‘Do you think taxes should be cut?’ then 45% might say yes. But if you asked ‘Do you agree with the Conservatives that taxes should be cut?’ the number would mysteriously drop to 25%.

Republicans are finding the same is true today with the Obama effect. When the merits of the stimulus were being discussed last week, the Democrats were losing the argument and public support appeared to be slipping.

So Obama went out and campaigned for it, basically reducing the question to ‘Do you support the stimulus like me or oppose it like the Republicans?’ Surprise surprise, Gallup found support for it up from 52% to 59%, much to the irritation of the guys at Hot Air: ‘Up seven points in seven days. I knew The One’s salesmanship would give it a bump, but I didn’t figure on this much.’

The same appears to be happening with Iraq. Rasmussen’s numbers show an outbreak of thumbs up for US policies since Obama took over. Based on what? asks Ed Morrissey. He’s doing absolutely nothing different from Bush!

Welcome to the new politics, Ed. There’s plenty more where that came from.