WaPo poll, 8/9/11
From the WaPo comes a 44% job approval rating for Obama and gloom about Washington politicians:
WaPo poll, 8/9/11
Nearly eight in 10 of Americans polled were dissatisfied with the way the political system is working, up dramatically from late 2009. The unhappiness is intense, with 45 percent saying they are very dissatisfied. That feeling is shared widely across party lines. Independents are the most disgruntled, with 51 percent calling themselves very dissatisfied....
Confidence in Obama to make the right decisions for the country’s economic future is down 10 points, to 33 percent, since January. Confidence in congressional Republicans, at 35 percent in January, dropped to 18 percent.
More Americans polled said both Obama and Republicans have made things worse than said either side has made progress, although Republicans were judged more harshly on this question.
Just 10 percent of those surveyed said Republicans have made progress in solving major problems, compared with 19 percent who said as much of Obama. Thirty-five percent said Republicans have made things worse, and 28 percent said the same about the president.
Let me repeat that: "Confidence in congressional Republicans, at 35 percent in January, dropped to 18 percent." See also
Speaker pelosi in 2012? But no incumbent should take any comfort in this poll. Check out
these numbers over the last year:
reelect numbers from WaPo poll 8/9/11
92% of the public says the financial situation is either a crisis(48%) or serious problem (44%.) They do not appreciate hard line partisan politics getting in the way of solutions.
Did politicians make things worse? 28% say that about Obama and 35% say it about Republicans. Again, no comfort for anyone there. And are they confident about the people offering solutions? Obama 33%, Republicans 18%.
Republicans lost this PR battle, but Obama and Democrats did not win it. If I were an incumbent of either party, I'd best make sure my retirement plans were in order before the next election. This is a historically unhappy public, but then again, voting in GOP extremists to the House in 2010 is no one's fault more than the voters. And don't forget, they never blame themselves.
Of course, the WH could come up with a coherent Democratic philosophy for fixing the economy, and stick to it. But if things don't improve, it won't matter.