Barack Obama has failed on promise to unite us

Researchers form the Pew Research Center have performed an analysis of polls. They found American politics is more polarized at this early stage of Barack Obama's presidency than at any equivalent point in the past four decades. March polling found a partisan gap of 61 points between Republicans and Democrats. That is worse than George Bush had in 2001. After the contentious and dividing election of 2000, President Bush had only a 51-point partisanship gap between Republicans and Democrats at this stage of his Presidency. The Main Stream Media painted President Bush with a reputation for divisiveness. They have been largely silent on President Obama's extreme divisiveness.

Barack Obama fails to reunite divided US, research shows
Barack Obama's promise to overcome partisan political divisions and reunite the United States has so far failed to materialise, according to independent analysts in Washington.

The Pew Research Centre carried analysed opinion polls six weeks into the Obama presidency and found that, contrary to the bipartisan note he has sounded, American politics is more polarised at this early stage in his presidency than at any equivalent point in the past four decades.

The researchers looked at the approval ratings for Obama reflected across several polls in early March, comparing his support among Democratic voters, which stood at a huge 88%, with that among Republican voters – only 27%.

That gives a partisan gap of 61 points. That is wider than even the 51-point gap between Republican (87%) and Democratic (36%) voters recorded at the start of George Bush's first term in 2001, despite Bush's reputation for divisiveness. (excerpt) read more at guardian.co.uk