WASHNGTON (AP) ― After a dreary summer marred by the fight over government borrowing, rank-and-file Democrats say they are growing more optimistic about President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects in 2012. They cite his tougher, more populist tone and what they view as a chaotic presidential primary fight among Republicans.

Many Democrats acknowledged that high unemployment and economic uncertainty create formidable obstacles for the incumbent. But interviews with more than a dozen Democratic activists across the U.S. found support for Obama’s more forceful message against Republican lawmakers and interest in rebutting the presidential candidates.

Several pointed to Obama’s speech last week in Kansas, where he argued that the American middle class had been under duress for the past decade and economic policies must give everyone a “fair shot and a fair share.”

“He didn’t have his voice and we didn’t have our voice,” said David Leland, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, and former state party chairman. “But now he has successfully turned that particular corner and most people are much more enthusiastic and much more fired up about it.”

Added Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat: “What he said in Kansas brought us back down to basics.” Durbin told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that “this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class in America.”

Entering 2012, Obama faces a set of economic numbers that have improved but that no incumbent would relish: unemployment of 8.6 percent in November, down from 9 percent in October; consumer confidence of 56, well below the level where a president typically gets re-elected; and an economy that has created 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row ― the first time that has happened since April 2006 ― but not enough for a robust recovery.

Politically, Obama’s approval rating, as measured by Gallup, has been in the low 40s during the fall and hasn’t topped 50 percent since last May. Polls typically show about three-quarters of voters view the nation on the wrong track. Republicans have blamed Obama for high unemployment and rising debt, contending that his policies have failed to lift America from recession.

“No amount of rhetoric or new slogans is going to change this president’s record,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer. “On issue after issue ― from job creation to a $15 trillion debt, voters are ready to change direction because of the president’s failed promises and policies.”

Nonetheless, less than a month before the first votes are cast in the Republican nominating race, many Democrats said they were encouraged by the topsy-turvy contest. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have been battling for the lead while businessman Herman Cain, who has now dropped out, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry stumbled after rising in polls.

“Obama has not been everything I’ve wanted him to be but he’s sure a heck of a lot better than any of the Republicans who have raised their hands,” said Tom Bordeaux, a former Georgia legislator who was recently elected to an alderman seat in Savannah, Georgia.

Mary Gail Gwaltney, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Las Cruces, New Mexico, said she felt stronger about Obama now “because I’m looking at the other party’s field and they don’t have a strong candidate.”

Democrats, who have targeted Romney through the airwaves, indicated that they would give Gingrich similar treatment, labeling the former Georgia congressman the “original tea partier” in a Web video released Sunday by the Democratic National Committee that highlighted his stances on the Medicare health care program for the elderly, Social Security retirement benefits and taxes.

As Obama confronts the Republican field, many Democratic stalwarts said the president’s tone and message will be pivotal.

Many activists said they were unhappy with Obama’s attempt to offer concessions to reach a compromise with Republicans last summer during negotiations over raising the government’s borrowing limit. But they said they were reassured when he proposed a jobs bill in September and hit the road trying to sell the package.

Only one provision has been enacted, tax incentives to encourage companies to hire unemployed veterans. Still, many party organizers said Obama’s fight with congressional Republicans over payroll tax cuts, unemployment benefits and efforts to force the wealthy to pay more in taxes would help their cause.

“He has to be seen as a champion for the average person,” said George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO labor federation. “I think that’s where his heart is ― that’s what he believes ― but he’s been too tentative in showing it. I guess in the labor movement, we come from the perspective that we’ve got to know where you are.”

Rob Tully, a former Iowa Democratic party chairman who supported former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, said that last summer many of his party allies shared his sense of frustration that Obama “was not engaging in the fight” with Republicans. But he said Obama’s more populist tone and attention to bread-and-butter issues for middle-class voters has resonated with him.

“I was frustrated with him but I have come full circle, back to the fold,” Tully said.