Voters may like the healthcare plan after all, poll shows
Pundits may want to reconsider the conventional wisdom that U.S. voters are sour on President Barack Obama’s sweeping healthcare overhaul, at least according to a new survey released Tuesday.
A majority — 54 percent — of all voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported the healthcare overhaul, the Public Religion Research Institute found in its American Values Survey of more than 3,000 voters.
Among women voters, 60 percent said a candidates’ support for the new healthcare law made them more likely to vote for that candidate, Dan Cox, the institute’s research director, said.
Women surveyed were also keenly interested in healthcare, with 25 percent saying they considered it the most important issue in the Nov. 2 election. Sixteen percent of men rated healthcare the most important issue, Cox said.
“Women who say healthcare is the most important issue for them are leaning toward Democratic over Republican candidates by 56 to 34 percent,” Cox said.
Obama’s fellow Democrats are facing a tough battle to hold their majorities in Congress on Nov. 2.
With the public angry over the sputtering economy, a growing budget deficit, a perceived failure of government in Washington and skepticism about big new programs like the healthcare overhaul, Republicans are expected to cut into or possibly eliminate the Democrats’ majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Reuters/Ipsos poll: Obama approval hits new low, but Republicans catch blame too
President Barack Obama’s approval rating sank to a new low of 45 percent, while his disapproval rating rose to 52 percent, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll. It was the first time more Americans disapproved than approved of Obama in an Ipsos poll since he became president.
But Republicans had little to crow about because they were blamed more than Democrats for Washington being broken, according to the August national poll.
Among registered voters the readings were about even when looking ahead to the November midterm elections, with 46 percent likely to vote for Republican candidates and 45 percent for Democrats.
Unemployment topped the list of economic worries with 92 percent of those surveyed expressing concern. The unemployment rate in June and July was 9.5 percent.
“Ninety-two percent, that’s a very, very high number,” Ipsos pollster Cliff Young said. “We’re seeing (an interest in) a jobs agenda that we haven’t seen in almost two decades.”
Of those surveyed, 62 percent believe the country is on the wrong track.
And 78 percent believe Washington was not working effectively because of fighting between the parties, for which 36 percent blamed Republicans, 28 percent blamed Democrats and another 28 percent blamed both parties. Since late February, the biggest shift has been the increase in the number of people blaming both parties.
The media seems to be running the country. The people can’t think for themselves or look for both sides of the picture. Proof positive that the school system is a disaster. Some of those candidates sound like reincarnations from the middle ages. Can you see Rand Paul or McDonnell negotiating with Iran?
Go ahead. Vote the clowns in and see what happens. Obama is not only brilliant; he is a statesman. The majority of the country obviously cannot see that. He could do incredible things for the country if he were not being maligned and the subject of intense bigotry and racism. The world is laughing at America. But since America thinks they are the only country in the world, they just blunder along.
Washington Extra – Economy hits Obama’s poll numbers
It’s still “the economy, stupid.”
Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign slogan, famously pinned up on the wall of their Little Rock headquarters by James Carville, never seemed more appropriate than it does today.
Our first Reuters/IPSOS national poll dramatically illustrates how the parlous state of the economy is undermining confidence in President Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues ahead of November’s mid-term elections.
Americans clearly identified the economy and jobs as the main problems facing the country today. Even more overwhelmingly, they said that Obama was not focusing on the issue enough.
Faith in Obama’s economic policies is also slipping sharply. People were more negative about the president’s handling of the economy than over any other issue. Satisfaction was also dropping more quickly on the issue than on any other question.
In another sign of trouble ahead for the president and his party, Republicans were significantly more energized and likely to vote in the mid-term elections than Democrats.
Of course none of this means Obama will lose in 2012. Presidents, including both Clinton and George W. Bush, have bounced back from mid-term bloody noses to win second spells in office. But quite a few Democrats will feel as though this year’s focus on healthcare and Wall Street reform will not do them any favors come November.
I wish the liberal media would stop selectively editing stories to push a certain point of view. Obama may be polling poorly, but Republicans are polling much, much worse. Americans aren’t about to turn the country back over to them, and here are the numbers that prove it.
As congressional Republicans double down on President Bush’s failed economic policies, a new National Journal/Pew Research poll finds that Americans believe President Obama’s “policies offer a better chance at improving the economy over the policies of his predecessor.” Interestingly, more Democrats favor Obama’s policies than Republicans favor Bush’s, while independents overwhelming side with Obama. Overall, despite continued tough economic times, 46 percent of Americans say Obama’s policies will do more to improve the economy, compared to just 29 percent who say the same of Bush’s:
http://congressionalconnection.nationalj ournal.com/2010/07/despite-tough-climate -public-p.php
The poll also found that only 30 percent of Americans support retaining all the Bush tax cuts, while a similar portion believe they should all be allowed to expire. Twenty-seven percent favor repealing the tax cuts for wealthy, while maintaining the rest, as the Obama administration has proposed.
Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Obama approval at 48 pct, disapproval at 48 pct
Americans are evenly split over whether President Barack Obama is doing a good job or a bad job — and few are on the fence.
A Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll found that Obama’s approval and disapproval ratings are each at 48 percent.
In the July 22-25 poll of 1,075 adults, Obama’s approval rating is in line with other polls that show his popularity below 50 percent.
When it came to Obama’s handling of the economy and jobs, only 34 percent approved while 46 percent said it was unsatisfactory. That is a sharp decline from when Obama took office in early 2009, when over half approved of his handling of the worst financial crisis in decades.
A decline in the unemployment rate over a few months topped the list as the best indicator that the economy is improving.
The poll had some worrisome news for Democrats seeking to hold onto their majority in Congress in the Nov. 2 elections.
Republicans had a 46-44 percent lead over Democrats when participants were asked which party they planned to support in November. And 72 percent of Republicans said they were certain to vote, compared to 49 percent of Democrats.
Obama may want to cover his eyes, poll numbers not good
A standard public line for presidents is that they don’t make policy based on opinion polls.
But we’re fairly certain no president likes to see his poll numbers drop. Well, President Barack Obama may want to cover his eyes for this one.
The latest Quinnipiac University National Poll found that Obama’s approval rating has dropped to a net low, with 44 percent saying they approve compared with 48 percent who disapprove of how he’s doing his job.
The poll also says independent voters have turned on him – which other polls have also found. The survey of more than 2,000 voters found a majority of independents disapproved of Obama, 52 to 38 percent, and by 37 to 27 percent said they would vote for a Republican in the 2012 presidential election.
The kicker in the Quinnipiac poll is that more voters said they would pick an unnamed Republican over Obama in 2012, by 39 percent to 36 percent. If Obama faced Republican Sarah Palin, however, Obama comes out ahead.
In the November elections for the House of Representatives, 43 percent said they would vote for the Republican candidate in their district compared with 38 percent who said they would vote for the Democrat.
Those type of poll numbers are likely to unnerve Democrats already jittery about holding onto their majority in Congress in this year’s election.
I sincerely doubt, and certainly pray that the majority of Americans (remember when there was actually a middle class), are not suffering from a collective case of amnesia!
It would appear the the neo-con members of the mostly wealthy GOP (and their Wall Street friends) are counting on it. Such blatantly dishonest propaganda they are floating is glaring proof positive that they don’t have anything else.
So how’s he doing now? New polls on Obama healthcare
The White House (whether its occupant is Obama or Bush) has a tendency to be dismissive of public opinion polls, shrugging them aside as inconsequential to the president’s decision-making and basically to be brushed off like dandruff on a shoulder.
That is unless the polls are going their way.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, amid the glee of the healthcare bill signing Tuesday, tweeted @PressSec “In the polling obsessed town of Washington, DC this will give the nattering nabobs of negativity something to chew on” with a link to a story about the USA Today/Gallup poll that said 49 percent vs. 40 percent saw passage of the bill as “a good thing.”
But while early post-healthcare polling data show a bump in President Barack Obama’s favorability ratings, it remains to be seen whether there’s a trend in the making.
A CBS News poll based on re-interviewing 649 adults after the Sunday House vote and comparing their responses to before the vote found a 6-point jump to 47 percent of those saying they approve of the job that Obama is doing on healthcare. But there were 48 percent who disapproved, offering a mixed result.
The Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll showed a 7-point gain from a week ago in the approval index rating on Obama’s performance as president. “The bounce comes entirely from increased enthusiasm among Democrats,” it said.
Political blogs the day after the bill signing were cautious on whether the tide was turning for Obama and how long it might last, see The Washington Post’s The Fix and NPR’s Political Junkie.
