Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s Polls: A Little Down But Nowhere Near Out

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | September 24, 2009 | +

Obama is down from where he once was in polling. Independents surveyed in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll say they disapprove of his job performance by a margin of 46 to 41 percent, a increase in bad feelings from July.  But the big takeaway I see in the poll is that all this doom and gloom–the Town Hall terrors of August, and policy frustrations both at home and abroad–has yet to really dent Obama’s image among the American public.

Asked about their feelings towards Obama, 46 percent said they liked Obama “personally and approve [of] most [of his] policies,” and another 31 percent said they liked him “personally but disapprove of many policies.” That’s a whopping 77 percent of the country that is willing to say they like the man personally. Asked another way, 56 percent of Americans said they had a “very positive” or “somewhat positive” view of him. (By contrast, 24 percent said they have a positive view of Glenn Beck, with another 42 percent saying they did not know Beck’s name, or were not sure.)

Another data point: When asked about Obama’s exposure in the media, 34 percent said they saw and heard “too much” about Obama, while a healthy 54 percent said they hear just about the right amount.

There is a slowly growing skepticism about Obama’s policies, both domestic and foreign, and the distaste for Congress has not abated. But despite the often critical headlines, and the hopes of Republicans that the glow has come off the Obama brand, the president is, for the most part, holding steady with the American people. Which means, among other things, that you will keep seeing and hearing a lot about him. He remains the best thing the White House and the Democratic Party has going right now.

Related Topics: glenn beck, Barack Obama, Uncategorized

  • Latest on Swampland

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    The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

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  • spob

    http://cbs2chicago.com/local/kirk.gadhafi.charities.2.1205623.html
    .
    Maybe if you guys asked hard questions about the thinking that went into this, the public would have a better time understanding what he’s all about.

  • spob

    And good God, that comment that anyone doubting our character need only look at our actions for the past nine months . . . .
    .
    But nope, not news.

  • spob

    Or maybe, on foreign policy, the MSM could ask a little harder questions on why Obama supports this lunatic:
    .
    http://www.miamiherald.com/1506/story/1248828.html

  • spob

    And then there’s his fabulous diversity czar . . . . someone who thinks white people need to be fired because of their skin color . . . .
    .
    Even the most hard core racial preference supporters usually blanche at firing people who have a job.

  • tstar3

    I see Mr. spob is back at it. Spob to make your case you can either 1) Run for congress or the presidency or 2) get on FOX. Just do one or the other…because it has to be difficult making a choice between playing world of warcraft or making snide comments on blogs- either way there is a cheeto stain on your shirt:)

  • tstar3

    And since when do we start dictating how a prez is doing with polls this time in 01 bush was riding in the 70s- oh how he fell. And MS next time put up a poll comparing Obama and any other R candidate..Palin, Pawlenty, Romney…he is beating them like they stole Mike and Ikes at the Snack counter. And since we are poll happy where is the poll showing barely 12% of Hispanics approve of the R’s…or the poll saying 3 in 4 Oklahoma high school kids don’t know who was the first prez of the U.S…polls…polls..Who freaking cares? They don’t mean jack jimmity squat

  • plukasiak

    But despite the often critical headlines, and the hopes of Republicans that the glow has come off the Obama brand, the president is, for the most part, holding steady with the American people.
    _
    actually, he’s losing considerable ground. His net positive in March was +34 points. Its now down to +10 points.
    _
    IMHO, the sole reason that Obama is still above 50% is because the GOP opposition is so loathesome, Obama gets a half dozen points simple because he’s not one of them.

  • rustyreturns

    “Overall, 51% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Forty-eight (48%) now disapprove.

    .
    Going…..Going…..GONE
    .
    They only thing that will get this nose dive out of the steep dive it is making for Obama is if somehow Israel bombs the living crap out of Iran, and Obama steps in it with both feet and condones Israel for “doing the right thing”.
    .
    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
    .

    “Zogby Interactive: Obama Job Approval-Disapproval Holds Steady at 49% – 50%

    .
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html
    .
    However in June, it was 60% Approve and 33.3% Disapprove.
    .
    Does it get any better than this?? I think not.

  • rustyreturns

    By the way, if this isn’t CREEPY I don’t know what is.
    .
    Are we really doing this in our schools? Is this what we are having our children learn instead of their ABC’s? Instead of singing Christmas Carols which are now banned in our schools we are having our children sing songs for “Barack HUSSEIN Obama”?
    .
    When will the madness end??
    .

  • apollyon07
  • plukasiak

    …and to make matters worse, the Dems are trying to pass a constitutional amendment that will allow 3rd graders to vote!

  • dunedweller

    “24 percent said they have a positive view of Glenn Beck, with another 42 percent saying they did not know Beck’s name, or were not sure.”

    But hopefully that 42% will be reduced once he gets his TIME cover, right MS?

  • juniusredivivus

    Just to offer you a taste of what spob would be like in real life:
    .
    http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/malkins-venom-knows-no-bounds-obama
    .
    Since this sort of lunacy is all the GOP is offering, I think we can be sure that, when the economy rebounds in 2010, the GOP will discover that having nothing to say except lies, combined with hatred for most Americans, is not a winning hand.

  • darius3

    To rehash an old chestnut: it’s the economy, stupid.
    .
    Right now, the economy’s struggling, unemployment is high, and Obama’s poll numbers have dipped as a result. When the economy recovers, Obama’s approval ratings will rise. Simple as that.

  • december7

    You are right, these numbers mean “zero” at this stage, just like it wouldn’t matter if his approval remained over 70%.
    Those getting exited that he is ‘nose diving” should remember, Reagan tanked in his first year big time, but how did that relate to a 48 state win after the economy recovered?

    The lower he goes, the stronger the rebound when recovery begins.

    This is golf, never bank on your partners failure, up your game.

  • Cliff

    So…you’re against indefinite detention?

  • kbanginmotown

    Amen.

  • kbanginmotown

    Hallelujah!

  • rustyreturns

    The sharp downturn in housing markets across the country, which undermined the solvency of major financial institutions and severely disrupted the functioning of financial markets, has led the United States into a recession that will probably be the longest and the deepest since World War II. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that the recession—which began about a year ago—will last well into 2009. Under an assumption that current laws and policies regarding federal spending and taxation remain the same,

    CBO forecasts the following:
    A marked contraction in the U.S. economy in calendar year 2009, with real (inflation-adjusted) gross
    domestic product (GDP) falling by 2.2 percent.
    A slow recovery in 2010, with real GDP growing by
    only 1.5 percent.
    .
    An unemployment rate that will exceed 9 percent early
    in 2010. (Well this is already bad, as unemployment is now over 10%)
    .
    A continued decline in inflation, both because energy
    prices have been falling and because inflation excluding energy and food prices—the core rate—tends to ease during and immediately after a recession; for 2009, CBO anticipates that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), will be only 0.1 percent.
    .
    A drop in the national average price of a home, as
    measured by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s
    purchase-only index, of an additional 14 percent
    between the third quarter of 2008 and the second
    quarter of 2010; the imbalance between the supply of
    and demand for housing persists, as reflected in
    unusually high vacancy rates and a low volume of
    housing starts.
    .
    A decrease of more than 1 percent in real consumption in 2009, followed by moderate growth in 2010; the rise in unemployment, the loss of wealth, and tight consumer credit will continue to restrain consumption—although lower commodity prices will ease those effects somewhat.
    .
    A financial system that remains strained, although
    some credit markets have started to improve; it is too
    early to determine whether the government’s actions
    to date have been sufficient to put the system on a
    path to recovery.

    .
    Yes, according to the CBO, these are the real estimations of what the outlook is for the next year. 2010 will have a very minimal gain, if further erosion in the housing market stops and financial institutions are able to unload their bad debt.
    .
    If housing does not rebound in the 1st quarter of 2010, ten the outlook is much more dire.
    .
    Nope, Obama will not be able to ride the big wave of an improving economy. Instead he will crash on the beach like a big whale and the little Democrats in Congress will be voted out of office in November 2010.
    .
    Bye bye majority!!

  • http://www.pasarici.net/2009/09/barack-obamas-polls-a-little-down-but-nowhere-near-out/ Barack Obama's Polls: A Little Down But Nowhere Near Out … - Pasarici.NET Blog

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  • kbanginmotown

    Rush on Leno tonight. It’s harder when you’re not arguing strawmen. Good to see him taken down a notch.
    .
    Hopefully, when Al Gore is on the program, he’ll get a shot at the Green Car Challenge…ba-bump.

  • Cliff

    Let me guess, you think tax cuts are the answer for all that trouble.

  • pafro

    Maybe the person that wrote this post and claims a “growing skepticism” about Democratic polices can explain this new result from the latest Times/CBS poll:
    “Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government administered health insurance plan — something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get — that would compete with private health insurance plans?”

    Favor 65%
    Oppose 26%

    http://documents.nytimes.com/new-york-times-cbs-news-poll-confusion-over-health-care-tepid-support-for-war#p=15

    [Sorry, for the snarkiness. I am a liberal and I am growing "skeptical" that we will reform finance. So while it is technically true that I am growing weary of some current policy, that doesn't mean i am going to join Dick Armey and start tea-bagging people.]

  • juniusredivivus

    Other memorable Rusty predictions:
    .
    1000 BC: This iron nonsense is Socialism. Those Hittite-Commies will never make a go of it.
    .
    800 BC: The alphabet will never be worth spending taxpayer flints on
    .
    753 BC: Rome’s doomed, I tell you, doomed. I give it 10 years at most!
    .
    30 AD Jesus is down to 20% in the opinion polls. Buhbye, Jewboy!
    .
    1492 AD : Columbus will fall off the edge of the world
    .
    1666 AD : Newton is just a mathematical community organizer, forget about calculus
    .
    1939 AD: Adolf is the blue-eyed boy of Europe. Screw Churchill, we need to to work with a responsible statesman. Anyway, everyone knows the Poles and French are Commies.
    .
    2008 AD: George W Bush is a global statesman and genius. He’s destined for Rushmore, I am telling you. I know he can have a third term for the asking!

  • jamesrnolan

    To throw ANY cable news personality’s name into an article on the President’s poll numbers is truly ridiculous. Did Wolfe Blitzer poll well?

  • 3xfire3

    My compliments to rustyreturns.
    You are one of the few people making comments based on true FACTS. Very few of the Liberal/Progressives ever use any actual facts in their comments.
    Obama in sinking in the polls because he has deceived the American public by running for President as a moderate and is now showing his true self by governing as an extreme Liberal. He lied to the American people to get elected and they now know the truth.
    The Test of whether information is really factual is as follows.
    1. Is it the truth.
    2. Is it the whole truth.
    3. Is it nothing but the truth.
    Too many people pick and choose their facts. Figures don’t lie but liars use figures.
    Even the truth can be a lie if it does not meet the above 3 criteria.

  • 3xfire3

    I think you made a typo in your comments. You used GOP where I’m sure you intended to say Liberal/Progressives. With that change your comments are in fact true.
    No need to thank me. I’m happy to be of service.
    You may want to read 15.3
    Have a happy truth filled day

  • slate82

    Was the article about Obama’s ratings or a political entertainer? Why would Glenn Beck even make the article and Sherer Time compare the approval rating of Beck and Obama? Do you think this piece was a little slanted toward Barry?

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