Americans Trust Obama, Republicans Not So Much

So far the American public is giving President Barack Obama their approval for handling the government's efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, while they don't believe the Republicans in Congress have been doing a very good job. In a new Gallup Poll the Repugs receive an approval rating 31%, in fact fifty-eight percent of the public openly disapprove of the GOP’s actions.

This is really surprising.

You might have read how Think Progress released a report showing that Republican members of Congress outnumbered their Democratic counterparts by a ratio of 2 to 1 on the cable news shows. Apparently these Republicans and their talking points haven't been very persuasive. This is surprising because not only have conservative Republicans been dominating the discourse, but their talking points have been largely internalized by journalists covering the debate.

Let's hope this is not a outlier, and that the American public is paying attention.

Now a new CNN poll found similar results to the Gallup poll.

Seventy-six percent of those quesioned [sic] in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday give President Obama a thumbs-up when it comes to the way he's performing his duties, with 23 percent disapproving of the way Obama's handling his job as president.

While Repuglicans have been exceedingly pleased with their actions over the last few weeks, the American public is not.

Three out of four say that President Obama is doing enough to cooperate with Republicans in Congress, but only 39 percent feel that congressional Republicans are cooperating enough with the President.

Six out of ten approve of the way Democratic leaders in Congress are handling their jobs. But only 44 percent of those questioned approve of the way Republican leaders in Congress are performing.

Republicans may like to act as if they are not concerned with public attitudes, but they are. Republican leadership is the biggest set of cowards you have ever seen, and they will start feeling the heat. Watch them begin to fold this week.

Republicans, Clueless to the End

President Bush will leave the White House with a 34% job approval rating, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. The improved rating, is better than what he has received for the past year,” and is due to Republicans, whose “approval of him rose from 67% in mid-December to 75% in the current poll.”

Seriously, 75% of Republicans approve of the job that George W. Bush has done? What exactly are they approving of? What has Bush done?

Still a large number of Republicans shifted in the final weeks to support Bush, giving him a nine-point post-election bump, which brought his approval rating up to 34% from 25%. Without it, Bush's final Gallup number would have been far more humiliating; which may have been the point.

Now Bush's disapproval rating is significantly higher than say Jimmy Carter's or Harry Truman's. Only Richard Nixon was explicitly less popular at the end of his administration than Bush is today. Thus Bush has the distinction of having the lowest final job approval rating of any modern president leaving office at the natural end of his term.

Americans Are Hopeful

One thing that I have always been impressed with America is that we are a pretty hopeful nation. A poll out today by the Associated Press shows that Americans are skittish about the economy’s immediate future, but the poll also shows that many are optimistic about what a year out holds, despite economists’ widespread expectations that a serious recession is brewing. Most respondents expect the economy to generally be better and the stock market to rise three months from now when Bush is out of the office. People were asked how they think seven aspects of the economy would be behaving in three months and a year from now. They gave mixed responses for the near-term, but in nearly each case foresaw stronger performance in a year.

Many said the upcoming presidential election will affect the economy’s performance. Forty-four percent said they think the economy will improve if Democrat Barack Obama is elected, while 34 percent said it would get better if Republican John McCain wins.

In Pew Poll, Obama's Lead Widens: 52%-38%.

Today's news is that Barack Obama enjoys his widest margin yet in the Pew Poll over John McCain among registered voters, at 52% to 38%.

When the sample of voters is narrowed to those most likely to vote, Obama leads by 53% to 39%.

Barack Obama’s strong showing in the current poll reflects greater confidence in the Democratic candidate personally. More voters see him as “well-qualified” and “down-to-earth” than did so a month ago. Barack Obama also is inspiring more confidence on several key issues, including Iraq and terrorism, than he did before the debates. Most important, Obama now leads McCain as the candidate best able to improve economic conditions by a wider margin (53% to 32%).

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain has steadily increased since mid-September, when the race was essentially even. Shortly after the first presidential debate in September, Obama moved to a 49% to 42% lead; that margin inched up to 50% to 40% in a poll taken just after the second debate.

Widespread loss of confidence in John McCain also appears to be a significant factor in the race at this point. Many more voters express doubts about John McCain’s judgment than about Barack Obama’s. A steadily growing number of voters say that John McCain has been too personally critical of Barack Obama, and a lot fewer voters view John McCain as inspiring than did at the beginning of this campaign. John McCain's smear tactics seem to have tarnished his image more than anything else. By contrast, 71% of voters continue to think of Obama as inspiring.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Oct. 16-19 among 2,599 registered voters interviewed on landline phones and cell phones, finds that McCain’s age also has become more of an issue for voters. Roughly a third says that John McCain is too old to be president. The numbers are slightly more than those who saw candidate Bob Dole as too old to be president in 1996.

Sarah Palin continues to to be a drag on the John McCain with 49% of voters express an unfavorable opinion of Palin. In mid-September, Sarah Palin's favorable opinions outnumbered negative ones by 54% to 32%. Women, especially women under age 50, have become increasingly critical of Sarah Palin, with 60% now expressing an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, up from 36% in mid-September.

CNN Poll: Obama wins debate, 58-31

An instant CBS poll of uncommitted voters said Obama was the winner 53-22. CBS’s polls found that in the first presidential debate, second presidential debate and vice presidential debate, more uncommitted voters said the Democratic candidate was the victor.

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50% to 42%

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50% to 42% among registered voters in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday -- just one point shy of his strongest showing of the year.

28%

This is President Bush’s approval rating in a new Harris poll. I just have to wonder who exactly makes up these 28%.

Can this number drop anymore?

Is this the lowest level of his presidency or can it go lower?

The following is from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

Bush Approval Rating Falls to 28%,Lowest Level So Far, in Harris Poll

President Bush's approval rating slipped to new lows in the most recent Harris Interactive survey, but he's not alone: For the first time since the series began, all of the political figures and institutions included in the survey have negative performance ratings.

Of the 1,001 American adults polled online April 20-23, only 28% had a positive view of Mr. Bush's job performance, down from 32% in February and from a high of 88% in the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The current rating is his weakest showing since his inauguration.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice garnered the approval of 45% of those surveyed, down from 46% in February, and approval of Defense Secretary Robert Gates slid to 29% in the latest poll, from 32% in February.

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On a side note, how does Condoleezza Rice have an approval of 45%?

This woman has been pathetic at her jobs in the Bush Administration. She was the worst National Security Advisor, and may be the worst Secretary of State.