Obama: We Like Him, Republicans Don’t
Posted on February 24th, 2009 in Uncategorized |
Both New York Times and Washington Post polls show that Barack Obama is enjoying broad support from the American public in his efforts to fight the recession.
Large majorities of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll support his $787 billion economic stimulus package and the recently unveiled $75 billion plan to stem mortgage foreclosures. Nearly seven in 10 poll respondents said Obama is delivering on his pledge to bring needed change to Washington, and about eight in 10 said he is meeting or exceeding their expectations. At the same time, however, the bipartisan support he enjoyed as he prepared to take office has eroded substantially amid stiff Republican opposition to his major economic initiatives.
That’s from the Post; this is from the Times.
President Obama is benefiting from remarkably high levels of optimism and confidence among Americans about his leadership, providing him with substantial political clout as he confronts the nation’s economic challenges and opposition from nearly all Republicans in Congress, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Further evidence of my argument that the GOP, in choosing to stand and fight Obama rather than work with him for the good of the country, is only shooting itself in the foot, further marginalizing an already-minority party.
3 Responses
2/24/2009 2:50 pm
I believe Obama’s approval rating is about average for a new President one month into his term, about the same as GWs was at this point in his presidency. I don’t know see where this poll means much of anything with regards to whether it is politically wise for the Republicans to oppose the stimulus package.
2/24/2009 7:34 pm
puh-lease, indeed. From the article Richard cites above:
“Mr. Obama’s approval rating is about 10 percentage points higher than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton were at this early stage of their presidencies. His job approval rating of 63 percent includes 88 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of Republicans.”
On the question of whether to oppose, you may have a point. But we’re in this mess largely because of Republican policies of the past eight years. It might be time to remember that it’s only in the past twenty years that the far right has come to dominate the GOP. If they were around, Eisenhower and Nixon would probably be denounced as pinko commie socialists by most of the Bush/Cheney/FoxNews crowd. If your ideas, at least as put into practice by the most recent Republican administration, appear to be figuratively and literally bankrupt, then it might be time to seek a middle ground.
2/24/2009 10:19 pm
Crimson Soldier,
I read differently in the LA Times, though that was based on a Gallup poll. The bottom line is that new Presidents enjoy great popularity and it is foolish to read too much into that. As for defending the Republicans, you’ve got the wrong guy.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/02/obama-bush.html
One month down, 47 to go.
And Barack Obama’s poll numbers have slid almost 10% already. According to the latest Gallup Poll, the new president’s approval rating of 68% in January has slipped now to 63%, about average for recent new presidents one month in.
What isn’t average, however, is Obama’s new disapproval rating — 24%, or 50% higher than the 16% average for a month-old new presidency.
And it’s twice the 12% disapproval rate that Obama had last month.
While liberal and independent support has held fairly steady, the rookie chief executive’s approval among Republicans has plunged from 41% to 30%, presumably tied at least somewhat to growing awareness of the spending program. The drop has been especially steep among conservatives, from 36% at inauguration to 22% now.
Additionally, Obama’s support has weakened among middle-class Americans, those touted during the campaign as benefiting from his promised tax cuts. Among that working crowd, Obama’s approval fell from 69% to 58%.
Tonight’s speech before a joint session of Congress and a nationwide television audience will give the new 47-year-old president an opportunity to make his case, not just for his already-signed but still controversial economic stimulus package but for his own evolving style of executive leadership.
And to possibly put the crumpled Cabinet nominations of recent weeks behind him.
Historically, 63-62% approval after a month is about average; Ronald Reagan had the worst at 55%, and Jimmy Carter had the best at 71%. Look how they turned out.
In fact, after 30 days, the Gallup Poll shows Obama has about the same approval rating as did George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, the man whose eight years in office the Illinois senator so often denounced as destructive during the recent campaign.
What’s surprising, as the astute Don Surber points out this morning, is that the gap between approval and disapproval is worse now for Obama than it was for the newly departed Texan after his first month. Bush’s differential gap was 41 points between approval and disapproval. Obama’s is 39 points, still above Bill Clinton, who had the worst differential of 30 points. Carter again had the best after one month of 62. Richard Nixon had 54.
The new Gallup survey involved 1,614 adult Americans between Feb. 19-21 with a margin of error of +/-3%.
– Andrew Malcolm