Obama Approval Rating Improving...GOP Declining

[martymoose]

If a person were to only believe what they read on Shockernet, they'd think Obama was doing a terrible job. Glad to see the rest of America isn't so afraid of "Change".

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/09/poll.obama.stimulus/index.html

Story Highlights
76 percent of Americans in poll approve of job Barack Obama is doing as president

Just 54 percent support the economic stimulus plan Obama is pushing

Three fourths of Democrats support the bill, but just 32 percent of Republicans

Poll gives Obama better grade on cooperation than it gives GOP lawmakers

Also....

25 people to blame for the the mess we're in. Obama not on the list, but guess who is....

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1878509,00.html

[Denny Crane]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_approval_index

[WstateU]

Shortly after class, an economics student approaches his economics professor and says,

"I don't understand this stimulus bill. Can you explain it to me?"



The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you." The student agreed.



At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the professor's house. The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard pool.



They both went out back to the pool, and the professor handed the student a bucket. Demonstrating with his own bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can." The student did as he was instructed.



The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it." The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told.



The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool.



The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?"



The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper.



The student didn't think the economics professor was serious, but figured that he would find out the real story soon enough.



However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the student began to become worried that his economics professor had gone mad. The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction of what could have been truly productive action!"



The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile, "Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill."


:good: :good:

[kcshocker11]

Oh no Ricky Bobby will want your privileges cut off!

We are in nchartered territory with this economy, Obama has brains and courage, he may not succeed but I like our chances. Oh here come the posts about Ronald Wilson Reagan. Note each name has six letters.

666 <---------- :evil: 8)

[btp1029]

I don't think the statement that Obamas approval rating is improving is accurate. According to Real Clear politics his average approval rating is 64.2%. The most recent poll has an approval rating of 58%. It appears the CNN poll is an outlier.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html

[SubGod22]

Rasmussen has it down to 56%. I'm curious to see how the next 50 days plays out in these polls. Another bailout like Pelosi is talking about and the approval rating will definitely go down again. But I think they're waiting until summer to unleash that one.

[WuDrWu]

Oh no Ricky Bobby will want your privileges cut off!

We are in nchartered territory with this economy, Obama has brains and courage, he may not succeed but I like our chances. Oh here come the posts about Ronald Wilson Reagan. Note each name has six letters.

666 <---------- :evil: 8)

kc11, honest question here. Define success for me. Give me 5 things you'd like to see change or the new administration be successful in changing.

Thanks

[Maggie]

There is nothing remarkable about President Obama’s personal approval rating or job approval rating at this time – no matter which poll is used as a standard (regardless, before putting faith in any poll you should actually read the questions that are asked and the type of sampling that was used). If I recall correctly our prior President had similar ratings at the start of his administration (however; I think his actually rose somewhat while President Obama has slipped).

We will see if President Obama is able to meet the challenge before him. So far, with the market having plunged on his watch and lost trillions of dollars in the process, and still with no serious plan on how to deal with the banking system and toxic assets, the initial signs are not encouraging. This coupled with the fact that he seems unable or unwilling to stand up to his own party with regard to the passage of legislation that nothing to do with the current economic crisis, i.e. taking advantage of a crisis (something President Bush was repeatedly accused of doing the last seven or so years) to push a broad agenda that otherwise might not garner the necessary support does not bode well for the President.

However, it’s still very early. Life and politics, as we all know, has many surprises.

[martymoose]

Rasmussen has it down to 56%..

The latest Gallup Poll...which probably has a little more credibility...has him at 62% approval and 27% disapproval today. Which is where it's pretty much been for the last week and a half.

Let's remember, after 9/11 Bush's approval rating jumped to 90%, then steadily declined over the next 7 years to a low of 25%. He ranks near the worst approval rating in history.

[Maggie]

As for me, I was referring to President Bush’s approval/job rating prior to 9/11 not after.

[martymoose]

As for me, I was referring to President Bush’s approval/job rating prior to 9/11 not after.

Well, looks like it was right at 51% just before jumping to 90%. His high before 9/11 was 62% and low was 51%. So, I guess Obama isn't doing too bad without a terror attack to inflate his approval rating.

[ABC]

Obama's approval rating at 62% or so at this stage is avg. among Presidents since Johnson. If you throw in Eisenhower and Kennedy into that mix, he is below average.

I predict his approval rating will continue to decline. Therre are other polls that already have him in the mid 50s.

[1979Shocker]

Speaking of approval ratings, the job rating for Congress has actually gone up.

http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

The latest polls had them at around 40% approval and 50% disapproval.

[WuDrWu]

Speaking of approval ratings, the job rating for Congress has actually gone up.

http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

The latest polls had them at around 40% approval and 50% disapproval.

It really just goes to prove how stupid the average American really is.


For example, if asked what exactly did lifting the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research actually mean, I'd be will to bet that at least 9 out of 10 Americans have no real idea what the details are and what has been done in that field all these years.

[Maggie]

As for me, I was referring to President Bush’s approval/job rating prior to 9/11 not after.

Well, looks like it was right at 51% just before jumping to 90%. His high before 9/11 was 62% and low was 51%. So, I guess Obama isn't doing too bad without a terror attack to inflate his approval rating.

I think you might be missing the point. I was simply implying that a President’s approval rating is not that significant during the first few months of his Presidency. Nearly all Presidents will enjoy a high approval/job performance rating early on as most Americans will naturally want to support a new administration. Incidentally the numbers you provided actually prove my contention. Using your numbers, President Bush’s ratings ranged between 51% and 62% during the first eight months of his administration – very comparable to President Obama. This is the norm and not exceptional.

I don’t know why you keep bringing up 9/11 because I don’t think anyone is using that as a baseline. Of course a national crisis of that magnitude will all most always inflate a President’s polling numbers. However, I think most fair minded people would agree that we are facing national crisis right now. So I suppose it could be argued (not that I am doing so), using your logic, that President Obama’s polling numbers are and have been somewhat inflated since he took office.

Whether President Obama’s polling numbers will remain in the mid 50s to low 60s for the immediate future remains to be seen; however, I predict that while his personal approval rating might remain relatively steady for the time being solid unbiased polling numbers regarding the policies he (and Congress) actually puts in place (as distinguished from policy direction and platitudes that he might verbally convey) will go down. In the long term, this could prove to be drag on his personal popularity.

We will see.