Jonathan Chait didn’t like my column yesterday because it didn’t take account of the effect high unemployment numbers are having on Obama’s standing. If I had written about Obama’s approval numbers, this might be a telling criticism. Instead, I wrote about attitudes on a whole host of issues shifting right. Chait refers to a John Judis piece on unemployment and presidential popularity. But in my quick perusal of the Judis piece, I don’t see any argument that unemployment makes people skeptical of regulation or pro-life on abortion or in favor of the government promoting traditional values (perhaps unemployment can explain independents leaning to the GOP, something I mention, but surely not everything else). Chait also says that Nate Silver takes issue with the Fox poll on health care. Fine, let’s put it aside for the sake of argument. All the other numbers I cite (all ignored by Chait) are from Gallup and they suggest there’s been a snap-back in public opinion, with conservative attitudes gaining ground they had lost during the Bush second term and prior to Obama’s hurry-up-and-spend first nine months.