You may have noted over the years that I very rarely link to or discuss polls about issues or job approval numbers or even elections. In the presidential race, I mainly linked to Nate Silver’s analysis of polls rather than to any individual polling outfit. Part of the reason I am not prone to discussing polls is that I don’t trust them. And part of it is that they are often meaningless. Do I believe Rasmussen when they issue a poll on gay marriage or reproductive rights? No. Do I care what the April polls say about a November election? Not really.
One poll I do pay attention to is congressional approval, but that is because I am waiting for the day that the House Republicans actually score lower than gonorrhea. It won’t be long now. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll out today shows that the president has succeeded in winning over public opinion on the budget and the debt ceiling. It also shows that people hate Congress, and the Republicans in particular. It even shows a growing group of conservative Republicans who think that the party leaders are not doing enough to strike compromises with Obama.
The GOP congressional leadership also takes flak for a perceived unwillingness to work with Obama on important issues: 67 percent of all Americans see them as doing “too little” to compromise with the president. Far fewer, 48 percent, say so about Obama’s willingness to compromise with the GOP.
The percentage of Americans seeing the Republican leadership as overly intransigent is up 13 percentage points since December 2010, just after the GOP reclaimed control of the House of Representatives. The biggest increases since that time have been among Republicans and conservatives, with roughly 20-point jumps in blaming their party’s leaders for not doing enough to strike deals with the president. Half of all Republicans say the GOP leadership is not doing enough to compromise.
Republicans in the poll have also led the revival in Obama’s “strong leader” number. Overall, 61 percent see the president as a strong leader, up from 51 percent a year ago. Since then, there has been a 17-point increase among Republicans, from 18 to 35 percent.
Obama’s approval rating (55%) is three points higher than Dubya’s and 5% lower than Clinton’s were on the eve of their second inaugurations. His biggest problem is the damage right-wing media have done to his reputation with the GOP base:
Obama continues to face record levels of partisan opposition. He has the lowest approval rating from the other side — just 17 percent of Republicans approve of the way he is doing his job — than any president entering his second term in the past half century, according to Post-ABC and Gallup polls.
Sadly, when I look at right-wing media, I think 17% is pretty good.
Hugely important to see increasing numbers of conservatives saying republicans should compromise. Until recently, they largely said compromise was wrong.
Also, on the effect of right wing media, one does wonder what Obama’s approvals would look like if 35% of the country wasn’t told daily that he is Satan.
I guess this is as good a place as any to note yet again that I hope one of these days, President Obama takes your advice and starts incorporating the word “Republican” into his daily utterances more and more often, as a means of reminding the voters that the opposition has a name, and a deeply unpopular one at that.
He did that extensively on Monday during his press conference. It was refreshing to see him point to the Republicans rather than just to Congress as the problem. Reelection removed a lot of restraints.
That press conference was the first time in a very long time that I saw Obama as a strong leader. Coupled with movement toward gun control, he’s had a good week.
But I don’t think this needed to be a post-election change. The administration has seemed to consistently underestimate the power that Obama has to shift public opinion with non-legislative actions. Nor do I think it will be any kind of loss to his approval ratings if he’s firm on the debt ceiling and advocates for gun control and loses. Most Americans are pragmatists, and would rather than someone who fights in their corner and loses rather than someone who fights against them and wins.
“Republico delenda est!” — Baracus Husenus Cicero
The real joke is that now even the Koch Brothers have come out against the debt-ceiling kamikaze act. Pass the popcorn.
http://www.businessinsider.com/koch-brothers-turn-against-republican-debt-ceiling-crazies-2013-1
17% isn’t good — it’s spectacular. It’s tribute paid to the incarnate Devil.
Look, these people don’t actually believe in government in any form of majoritarian government. They’re divine-right absolutist monarchists.
Sell your Federalist Papers to some unsuspecting AP Government student and buy yourself some Bossuet. That’s how you need to approach American politics today.
Yes indeed, large majorities hate Congress and the braindead Repubs. And have for some time now.
Just think what their attitude would be if even half of them knew that the (permanent) Repub House is the result of an intentional nationwide gerrymander scheme and is democratically illegitimate?
Fortunately, no one will tell them, and they can all keep thinking our “system” is great. Your Lib’rul Media!
The same polarization of the electorate that has made the last few presidential elections so close has changed the meaning of approval ratings. The ceiling is lower, and the floor higher, than they were in 1996.
The five-point difference between Obama and Clinton is much less meaningful than the three-point difference between Obama and Bush.