Poll: Obama Way Ahead Of GOP On Stimulus
A new Gallup poll shows that President Obama is continuing to enjoy high approval in handling the economic stimulus debate -- and his brand is solidly beating the Congressional Republicans, too.
The numbers: Obama has a 67% approval and only 25% disapproval on how he's handled the stimulus bill, compared to Congressional Republicans' 31% approval and very high 58% disapproval. Congressional Democrats aren't as popular as Obama himself -- explaining the GOP's efforts to tie the bill to Nancy Pelosi, instead of Obama -- but they're still in the black at 48%-42%.
In addition, a 51% majority of independents say it is critically important to pass a stimulus bill, 27% say it is moderately important, and only 17% say it's not important. The numbers among the Republican base, as we might expect, are wildly different: Only 29% say it is critically important, 37% say it's important but not critically so, and 31% say it's not important.
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
I think the BEST thing that Obama did this week was to STOP accommodating the Republicans and show some fight and fight back starting on Wednesday. That as well as the dismal numbers out on Friday woke everybody up.
What Obama has decided to do is take the fight BACK to the Bush policies which is very unpopular and he is linking the GOP Congress with those vey unpopular policies.
If Obama continues to do that as well as sell the stimulus package as a JOBS BILL than he will do very well.
It is nice to see Obama back in campaign mode because he truly SHINES in that mode. It brings it DIRECTLY to the American people and over the heads of Congress and the pundits.
The GOP better watch it. They are becoming increasingly like they don't care about the unemployed as well as economy. They are becoming the party of NO and obstructionists to help with the economy.
February 9, 2009 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
As he should be. In all honesty, this bill was drafted at the request of Obama. Unfortunately, house Dems put a couple silly things on there that were tough to defend and I'm not sure he should have been out there defending House Dems.
And, 78% of independents saying it is important to pass the stimulus is a significant number.
Here's the problem with some of those earlier polls and in all honestly it was difficult to put a good question forth that couldn't be used to build onto anyone negative narrative in some way.
Previously, people were asked if they supported it. Well, nobody really wants to spend money I don't believe. But, what I believe, and what can be seen by the response to this well formed questions, labeling it only as a stimulus, and asking if they believe its necessary, is Americans understand we've been put into a situation that needs immediate attention. I'm sure if they were asked again if they supported it you would see a low number again.
Hrmm..I'm not sure if what I said makes sense. I'm still only on my first cup of coffee.
February 9, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
It makes sense to me; when they rolled out the house bill, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
It was if the first order of business was to give Republicans the first 5 news cycles. Did they really think Boehner would even utter the words Planned Parenthood before warning of teenage sex workshops and free abortion day at the malls?
House Democrats may as well have targeted a few billion for Gay reparations and French lessons for ACORN.
However, even with a Democratic majority, I trust BHO to prevail.
By the way, I support Gay reparations (up to $10,000 per canceled wedding) and a one time grant to train Acorn staffers to teach french. (with the caveat, I'd probably oppose efforts to make it an ongoing program}
February 9, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama did exactly the right thing. The "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" strategy worked brilliantly with McCain, and is working with the Repubs in Congress. They are just that out of touch.
February 9, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely, I finally learned to just relax and let him drive. BHO has his GPS programmed and everybody else is lost and frantically unfolding their old coffee stained maps.
February 9, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's pretty much exactly what I started thinking 'round about last Thursday. He one smart mother, our new Pres!
February 9, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good comment, and to me this has a couple of other benefits as well.
1. It shows Dems he is getting the best deal he reasonably can and no, he can't dictate to Congress to get whatever they wish and neither is he inclined to.
2. It will strengthen him when he wins.
3. He will be in a better position to roll over Republicans if they try this Party First crap again in the future and now they know it.
4. It tells everyone that he is not panicking, making good on his pledges to reach out, and trying to govern like a grownup, but the party of mental infants brattily refuses to put aside childish things.
February 9, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
And O will keep on pounding them. I read an article yesterday that put alot of my fears to rest. THE BUDGET is where Obama will make his most progressive moves, we don't need 60 votes to pass, just 50 so O just wants his first legislative win and will put in the work on the budget for a piece of 2009 and the rest of 2010.
February 9, 2009 9:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
What is the percentage of people who think that Obama, the Democrats, and the Republicans are all doing a terrible job on the stimulus?
Obama is finally out fighting -- for a bad bill. It would have been better to fight for a good bill from the beginning. But at least the Republicans had their voices heard. That's the most important thing.
February 9, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
And he's got his prime time presser tonight - the GOP better pass the Stimulus today, or they're going to get buried.
The unfortunate thing is that this came too late and the deal was made with the belief that he was losing the PR war. I bet the Dems would be a little more emboldened if they were negotiating with these numbers backing them.
Only Rasmussen polls exist in the minds of the GOP.
February 9, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
The deal was not made with the belief that he was losing the PR war. These numbers have been consistent since the beginning and the White House has its own internal polling as well. Unlike many people in the liberal blogosphere, Obama doesn't suck on the teet of conventional wisdom and he never has.
The deal was made because Obama didn't have 60 votes yet. That is the only reason. The news cycle is irrelevant except among those who are looking in from the outside.
February 9, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was just going to say that if you mention these Gallup numbers to a wingnut, they'll immediately point you to Rasmussen.
I did earn a lot of respect for Rasmussen during the primaries and general election last year. He was very accurate, even though his numbers were often very good for the guy he didn't want to win. I always doubted his "issues" polling, though - for example, his questions about drilling and gas tax holidays that he asked all the time last year. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on his polling on the stimulus, and said as much in the comments here. But now he definitely looks like the outlier in the bunch. The fact that Rasmussen only includes "likely voters" - why does that matter now??? - in his polling probably accounts for much of the difference.
February 9, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
That and also his numbers for republican voters in general. He overstates republican voters by about 5% vs. other polls. Also, throw in the daytime robocalling and his numbers are always 5% off in the conservative direction and don't add up.
February 9, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Deal isn't made until the bill comes out of conference. It's hard to believe but I'm beginning to wonder if there hasn't been some rope-a-dope. If the Reps have had a headwind and done their best and *still* not made advances with the public, how strident do you think they will be in conference? I know Obama's good ..... but it's hard to believe even he planned **this** timing. Still, it does work well.
February 9, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lessee... Obama is supported by 67% of the country, while the GOP's disapproval rating is 58%? Obviously, it's high time that Harry Reid be more accommodating to the GOP. Mustn't, mustn't ever make them mad, or, god forbid, actually make them really truly filibuster something, right Harry? That just wouldn't be sporting.
February 9, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am not a fan of Harry Reid, but on this one he had to get 60 votes because of the Budget Act which requires any large deficit spending to get a higher vote than a regular bill. You can google it for more info.
My thoughts on the stimulus: When will Dems learn? You would think liberals would stop freaking out over Republican shenanigans, thinking they are so effective. I feel like we are in the middle of the campaign and everybody is saying Obama needs to hit back harder. I have learned to just relax and realize this is what Obama always does and it has worked way better than anything I've thought of.
I think if Obama does garner more media support this week the momentum shift empowers Nancy Pelosi to put a lot of the cut stuff back into the stimulus bill and Senate Dems will just have to stuff it and re-vote for it.
February 9, 2009 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you...a voice of reason. I expect Obama told the Democrats where he was willing to cut back to pick up the 60 votes because he knew he could pick it up in the budget bill or another bill later. For all the crying about the cutbacks, I haven't seen one person comment on what Obama did get in the stimulus bill. The Republicans would like to make you believe they won something, but their faces Friday night said it all. Obama knows what he is doing, and now he is going to pump the poll numbers up higher for the stimulus, making the Republicans look like the fringe party they've become. Ron Paul makes a lot of noise too, but doesn't mean anybody is listening.
February 9, 2009 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, the GOP's disapproval matches the number of Democratic Senates, and that number is less than the number needed to pass a stimulus bill... much less if you take out Nelson and Landrieu.
February 9, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's about to sign landmark legislation within weeks of taking office, and he still boasts record approval ratings - trouncing the GOP in the process - but if you tune into Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, or even CNN (or god, forbid, Faux News), you'd think his administration was tanking faster than you can say "jimmy Carter." Go figure.
February 9, 2009 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does Chris Matthews seem to have turned into a Republican since he decided not to run for office? He's acting bitter toward the Democrats. I turn the channel every time he fawns over a Republican or echoes Republican sound bites. If we all do that, he might get the message. Conservatives aren't watching his show.
February 9, 2009 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Stunningly enough, there's no mention of these numbers on The Page, or Drudge.
At least Politico had the honesty to post them.
February 9, 2009 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unless I'm very mistaken, the 60 vote requirement on this bill had nothing to do with a filibuster. Because of the nature of the bill, it requires 60 votes to pass. Therefore compromise was unavoidable.
Obama will have to find other ways to get his other stuff done when he doesn't need 60 votes.
Right now though, he has won the PR war with the public and that will set him up for those future battles. I don't know why so many people can't see this.
February 9, 2009 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's called THE BUDGET. The budget is where Obama will be at his most affective.
February 9, 2009 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or effective, even. :-)
February 9, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me that this Budget Act rule has the same practical effect in this case as the filibuster, except it's automatic so that no one has to take responsibility for it. The important point here is that if Republicans and fake Dems weren't trying to screw up this bill in the first place, it would be an actual good bill and have way more than 60 votes. There is no Senate rule forcing Mitch McConnell or Ben Nelson to be pricks. That is their decision entirely.
February 9, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Since many are willing to applaud Obama for a willingness to admit a mistake, as he did in the Daschle case, it is time for him to admit he screwed up by think bipartisanship could help get Washington funtioning again. Given the cast of characters left standing within the Republican Party, it will not.
The Country may have wanted bipartisanship when Obama was first launching his campaign, but the conditions of the economy and the perception of what the Republicans truly stand for has changed.
People want action and they do not care if Obama has to drag the recalcitrant Republicans along with us screaming aloud in the back.
"I treated them with respect and listened," he should tell the people. "Unfortunately they have nothing new to say and little of value to offer."
February 9, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
All true. He still has to keep reaching out to republicans though, no matter how much sand they kick in his face. It's not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. Also, he is playing to the republican and independent voters, not the politicians. People will see that and obama is setting up a republican slaughter in 2010 the way things are going at this point. Another slaughter and it will be 3 cycles in a row and then maybe we can get a new opposition party. Think whigs.
February 9, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama continues to get good poll results. The Congressional Democrats are getting better poll results. And the Republicans are tanking lower.
What mistake?
February 9, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No doubt this means the networks will have to put more Republicans on to comment!
February 9, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well that is all well and good but we're still hearing and reading of a "steady erosion" in support (NyT) and "republicans encouraged" (WaPo) and countless times from reporters as well as talking heads on MSNBC, CNN
February 9, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think our newspapers, for the most part, lost touch long ago and for sure they still haven't quite adapted to the fact that the repulcians really really have lost it.
Which is not to say Gallup is on the quie vive either.
February 9, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
They have to have something to chew on, until something else hits the news the stimulus bill is all they have. The creature (MSM) must feed on something constantly. It's not the first time they've tried to take Obama on. Remember all the hours of coverage on Rev. Wright? Obama is at his best when he's pushed back on.
February 9, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reassuring numbers, for sure. Of course, we probably won't hear about them on the teevee - not enough time in between the hundreds of interviews with GOP members of congress and wingnut pundits.
Obama and the Dems often note that the GOP is proposing the same solution - tax cuts for rich people - that got us into this mess in the first place. Still, people - ie, voters - loves them some "tax cuts". It's better to "give less money to government" than to have "government spend more of the money I give to them". What the Dems need to do is ask people, "Did the Bush tax cuts make you own personal situation any better?" My guess is that at least 90% of voters would say, "no", and many will say they didn't notice any change or that their situation may have gotten worse.
February 9, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like that idea of asking whether the Bush tax cuts made peoples' situations better, but then I think about the hullabaloo over the estate tax. It wouldn't have affected the overwhelming majority of people and yet people were convinced that the government was trying to take their money away.
February 9, 2009 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
In this case, though, we wouldn't be talking about a future hypothetical, we'd be asking them about history, their own recent (and current) economic history/situation. The problem with the estate tax argument is that too many people in this country think they'll be rich someday, even though most won't ever be rich, don't know what "rich" is (ie - it's not making $150K/year), and most don't realize just how much you need to have in order to be affected by the estate tax, even when the threshhold was only $650K. (it's much higher now) Or they bought into, "this will kill all of those poor, independent, family farmers", BS.
February 9, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
As an economist (student but still...) of Stockholm School of Economics I visited Paul Krugmans Nobel lecture and have been following the american stimulous debate in general. I really agree with Dean Baker and similar agitators but when they are saying that it's pure math to calculate the necessary size of the stimulous package I feel they are neglecting the fact that the state their aiming at getting the economy back to through the stimulous bill is actually a state based on a substantial bubble. Krugman and Baker says it needs to be at least 1200 B but to be sure what the sustainable economic level is we must be sure of the size of the bubble and so far as I've understood no one really knows that. Anyone have any input on this?
February 9, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your observation that Krugman and Baker's recovery objectives may be aimed at restoring the economy to the artificial levels of past bubbles is quite an important consideration if true, especially in light of the liberal blogosphere's incessant tantrums arising from failure to abide by the gargantuan prescribed stimulus measures that these economists are pushing.
February 9, 2009 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I blame Rahm for pushing Obama to allow Pelosi to write the Stimulus--She did a horrid job and added in her own PORK...
I do like the fact that Obama is a quick learner and once it was clear that the repub's were being petty and had become irelevant...He put it to them...
He needs to explain this to the public---and not allow the obstructionist repubs to pull this apart over tax cuts instead of job creation!!!!
11 million jobs lost under the 'REPUBLICAN TAX CUTS' in the last 8 years....
February 9, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm impressed that even 67% of Republicans consider passage of the bill important (even if less say it's critically so). That's gotta give some of those guys a little pause.
February 9, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
OH well
Roger Simon, MSNBC
February 9, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
DEMOCRATS NEED TO ATTACK REPUBLICANS TO DIVERT THEIR ATTACKS ON AMERICA........................
Republicans are practicing forms of demagoguery and guerrilla obstructionism that are intended to destabilize our economy for purposes of political exploitation. Republicans AREN’T making a sincere effort to stop the bleeding their incompetent leadership and failed policies created. Instead, they are using conflicting economic theories as a smokescreen to conceal their real agenda, which is to undermine President Obama and cause him to fail. Republicans are professing their disgraceful political whoring had nothing to do with the banking, real estate, stock market and employment failures that resulted. Republicans are shamelessly trying to block the success of Democratic governance, which is a concerted effort to further damage America, rather than undo or fix its problems. Republicans are offering up subjective controversial arguments they know no one can agree on in order to disrupt and deny constructive change. They want political gridlock for strictly PARTISAN POLITICAL purposes. That’s how they gained power and that’s how they’re trying to retain it. I don’t see them as being the loyal opposition. I see them as an ENEMY WITHIN whose political ambitions have distorted their moral and ethical standards to the point that treachery and betrayal are their preferred weapons of choice. It’s one thing for Republicans to stand up for their conservative beliefs; it’s another thing entirely to deliberately sabotage our government because a successful America would not be vulnerable to the fears and hatreds that created and sustained Republican extremism.
February 9, 2009 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Left needs desperately to pay less attention to Paul Krugman and more attention to folks like Michael Tomasky before they work themselves into another self-absorbed, self-destructive hissy fit (THANKS DAVID KURTZ)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/09/barack-obama-us-economy
We will have made a decisive change in 30 years of right wing economic policy when the President signs the legislation
Not bad for 3 weeks work
February 9, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a political sea change right in the nick of time. May Bush's legacy be a generation of liberal and progressive majorities, and the continued alienation from and ruination of the beltway ideology.
February 9, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes!!! I think he's losing it.
Latest Rassumen Poll as of today.
62% Want Stimulus Plan to Have More Tax Cuts, Less Spending Monday, Feb.9,2009.
February 9, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Yikes!!! I think he's losing it.
Latest Rassumen Poll as of today.
62% Want Stimulus Plan to Have More Tax Cuts, Less Spending Monday, Feb.9,2009."
Six,
And that's why Rasmussen (check your spelling) has consistently been a favorite of Fox News.
Rasmussen has a bias to the far-right.
http://www.pollster.com/blogs/is_support_for_the_stimulus_pl.php
February 9, 2009 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink