WASHINGTON, Oct 30, (AP): Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll finds. That glum assessment carries over into the nation at large, which is similarly divided over whether Obama should be a one-term president. A real Democratic challenge to Obama seems unlikely at this stage and his re-election bid is a long way off. But the findings underscore how disenchanted his party has grown heading into the congressional elections Tuesday. The AP-KN poll has tracked a group of people and their views since the beginning of the 2008 presidential campaign. Among all 2008 voters, 51 percent say he deserves to be defeated in November 2012 while 47 percent support his re-election — essentially a tie. Among Democrats, 47 percent say Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent say he should not be opposed. Those favoring a contest include most who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s unsuccessful faceoff against Obama for the 2008 nomination. The poll did not ask if Democrats would support particular challengers.

Political operatives and polling experts caution that Obama’s poll standings say more about people’s frustrations today with the economy and other conditions than they do about his re-election prospects. With the next presidential election two years away — an eon in politics — the public’s view of Obama could easily improve if the economy revives or if he outmaneuvers Republicans in Congress or in the presidential campaign. “Democrats currently disappointed with Obama will likely be less disappointed if he spends the next two years fighting a GOP Congress” should Republicans do well on Election Day, said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor and polling analyst. Even so, the poll illustrates how Obama’s reputation has frayed since 2008. It suggests lingering bad feelings from Democrats’ bitter primary fight, when he and Clinton — now his secretary of state — roughly split the popular vote. Political professionals of both parties said the findings are a warning for the president, whose formal re-election effort is expected to begin stirring next year.

“It’s an indicator of things he needs to address between now and then,” said Kiki McLean, a Democratic strategist who worked in Clinton’s 2008 campaign. The White House declined comment on the results.
Meanwhile, people assembled by the tens of thousands Saturday on the National Mall for a “sanity” rally blending laughs, activism and a call to civility from two popular hosts of satirical cable TV news shows.
The crowds on the National Mall were festive, goofy, disillusioned with the state of politics if not the nation, and ready to play nice at a gathering called to counter all the shouting and flying insults of the polarized election campaign. But there were political undertones, too, pushing back against conservatives ahead of Tuesday’s election.

“I hate signs,” said one sign. “Have you seen my keys?” said another. Slogans urged people to “relax.” But also: “Righties, don’t stomp on my head,” a reference to an incident before a Senate campaign debate in Kentucky at which a liberal activist was pulled to the ground and stepped on. And, “I wouldn’t care if the president was Muslim.” Shannon Escobar, 31, of Bangor, Pennsylvania, came with a group of 400 people on buses chartered in New York. A supporter of President Barack Obama in 2008, she said she’s tired of nasty rhetoric from both sides and disenchanted with lack of progress in Washington. “I want to see real change — not Obama change,” she said. “We need a clean slate and start over with people really working together.”

A regular viewer of Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” she said she had a dream that he ran for political office, but got “corrupt and dirty.” “I need him to stay pure,” she said, deadpan. People also carried signs in favor of the United Farmworkers labor union and the movement to give the US capital a voting seat in Congress. Many were college students, but the crowd cut across all age groups. “Seniors for pot” cried a half-dozen older people. Organizers insisted the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear wasn’t about politics. Still, supporters and left-leaning advocacy groups hoped it would rekindle some of the voter enthusiasm for Democrats seen in 2008, particularly among young adults.

Stewart is popular especially with Democrats and independents, a Pew Research Center poll found. Colbert of “The Colbert Report” poses as an ultraconservative, and the stage Saturday was stacked with entertainers associated with Democratic causes or Obama’s 2008 campaign. Even so, Stewart said the day was about toning down anger and partisan division. “Shouting is annoying, counterproductive and terrible for your throat,” he said on his website. The list of entertainers included musicians Sheryl Crow, John Legend and The Roots. Actor Sam Waterston and Don Novello, who years ago played Father Guido Sarducci on the TV comedy “Saturday Night Live,” were also expected to appear.