AP:
In one of the economy's darkest hours in decades, it looks as if people are taking Barack Obama up on his exhortations for hope and change. Seven in 10, or 72 percent, voice confidence the president-elect will make the changes needed to revive the stalling economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday.
Underscoring how widely the public is counting on its new leader, 44 percent of Republicans joined nearly all Democrats and most independents in expressing that belief.
More:
With Obama ending the GOP's eight-year hold on the White House under President Bush and about to become the first black president, the AP-GfK poll showed three quarters saying the election made them feel hopeful, six in 10 proud and half expressing excitement. Newly elected presidents often embark on a honeymoon period in which the public has highly positive feelings about them.
Democrats were far likelier to feel upbeat, yet such feelings were not limited to them. Half of Republicans said they were hopeful, a third proud and nearly a fifth excited about the election results. Another quarter in the GOP said they were depressed.
The article rightly points out that you can expect a honeymoon period. Still...
Though Republicans were more negative about the election results, they were consistently more upbeat than Democrats were in 2004 when their candidate, John Kerry, failed to unseat Bush. Forty-four percent of Democrats said they were angry and half said they were depressed in a November 2004 AP-Ipsos poll, double the GOP's rates this year.
And here's something interesting:
Match this with CNN:
Poll finds most Americans welcome Dem control
In the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday, 59 percent of those questioned said Democratic control of both the executive and legislative branches will be good for the country, compared with 38 percent saying such one-party control will be bad.
And talk about instant results (AP/GfK, .pdf):
Thirty-six percent said the country is moving in the right direction, about double the 17 percent who said so in last month's AP-GfK poll. Reflecting the election results, half of Democrats now see things heading the right way — quadruple their number who said so in October.
That right track moved from 17 to 36 in a month. You have to go back to 2005 to find the wrong track/dissatisfied number in the 50's. Interesting times.