Just posted to the online Wall Street Journal:
President Barack Obama enjoys widespread backing from a frightened American public for his ambitious, front-loaded agenda, a new poll shows.
He is more popular than ever, Americans are hopeful about his leadership, and opposition Republicans are getting drubbed in public opinion, the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
The poll shows a huge increase in the percentage of Americans that believe the country is now headed in the right direction--from 12% just before the election to 26% in mid-January to 41%--even though the economy is getting significantly worse, and many of the President's plans have barely been announced, let alone fully fleshed out, enacted or given time to work.
According to the poll, two-thirds of respondents said they were "hopeful", and only 28% of respondents said they were "doubtful", about the President's leadership and plans.
The survey also clearly showed how well the Republicans have been doing under the new Administration.
The poll had bad news for the Republican opposition. By a margin of more than 2-1, Americans trust the Democratic Party over the Republicans to get the country out of the recession. Views of the GOP are near an all-time low. And more than half of all adults say that Republicans in Congress have opposed Mr. Obama's proposals more to gain political advantage, compared with 30% who say Republicans have done so because they are standing up for their principles.
By a huge margin, people say there is no more bipartisanship in Washington now than in the past. For that, they are most likely to blame President George W. Bush's administration and congressional Republicans. They put almost none of the blame on congressional Democrats or Mr. Obama.
Disclaimer: I left out the Journal's spin about why these numbers may have mask serious risks for Obama and the Democrats, because, well, it was just too silly to quote. To paraphrase, the results are so positive, it only follows that they must be hiding weak support by independents who are on the fence, and Republicans who have grown even more negative about Obama. And the moon is made of green cheese.