Why a trio of scandals isn't hurting Obama: 3 theories

President Obama's approval rating held steady last week despite days of relentless coverage of a trio of scandals — the IRS' targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups, the Justice Department's spying on the Associated Press, and the ongoing investigation of the Obama administration's handling of last year's deadly Benghazi terrorist attack.

According to a CNN/ORC International survey, 53 percent of Americans polled on Friday and Saturday approved of the job the president is doing. That's actually a two-point improvement (although not a statistically significant one) over CNN's last poll, which was taken in early April.

Why hasn't the trio of scandals dragged Obama down in the polls? The leading theory among Democrats is that the scandals — particularly those involving the IRS and Benghazi — are nothing more than partisan witch-hunts. As Democratic pollster Geoff Garin tells USA Today, the controversies amount to a "tempest in a teapot."

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Paul Brandus at The Week says the public views these matters as important — just not as important as creating jobs. Republicans are "obsessed with exploiting these 'scandals,'" Brandus says, because they want to divert attention from the fact that the economy is actually getting better.

A third theory for why Obama is weathering the controversies so well is that he wasn't directly involved in any of them. David Espo says at The Associated Press that the "lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office" — along with active damage-control efforts by the administration and other Democrats — is shielding Obama from the fallout.

For now, anyway. Rick Moran at American Thinker says Obama might not be so lucky if new information comes to light.

John Hinderaker at Power Line says the scandals just haven't had enough time to air out, noting that Watergate didn't hurt Richard Nixon either — at first. "It is the drip-drip of headlines and revelations over the course of months that makes a scandal debilitating, not the initial revelations." Over time, Hinderaker says, Obama's image and agenda could take a beating.