Voters are souring on the economy and the government's remedies, according to the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index released Tuesday. It fell 4.1% to 46.8 in February, back to December's level and the weakest since July.

LOS ANGELES (February 9, 2010) — The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index decreased 2.0 points, or 4.1%, in February, posting 46.8 vs. 48.8 in January. This month's reading puts the index 1.7 points below its 12-month average of 48.5 and 2.4 points above its reading of 44.4 in December 2007 when the economy entered into the recession, and 4.3 points below its all-time average of 51.1.

President Obama continues to lose the support of independents, an ominous sign for Democrats heading into the midterm elections.

Health Care: Like a movie vampire, big-government health reform keeps coming back to sink its teeth into a resistant America's throat. Voter power has left the Democrats' plans near dead, but near isn't good enough.

Americans are concerned about the Obama administration's approach to national security, with ideology a major influence on where they stand. As liberals support Obama's policies, nonliberals back tougher approaches.

In sharp contrast to his self-assessment of a solid B+, Americans give President Obama a C grade for his overall performance for the first year of his term. However, he consistently gets lower grades on policy issues.

Consumer confidence rose a bit in January as Americans' hopes rose that the budding recovery will start to create jobs soon, according to the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index on Tuesday.

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index increased 2.0 points, or 4.3%, in January, posting 48.8 vs. 46.8 in December.  This month’s reading puts the index 0.5 points above its 12-month average of 48.3 and 4.4 points above its reading of 44.4 in December 2007 when the economy entered into the recession, and 2.3 points below its all-time average of 51.1.

Unemployment at 10%, new terror concerns and political capital spent on a health care bill that a majority of Americans don't want.

Health Reform: The president used an illuminating choice of words to describe the transformation of the health system Congress is set to enact. We are indeed "on the precipice" — staring into an abyss of statism.