Good news for the president from the latest NYT/CBS poll, conducted yesterday and Monday.
The glow of national pride seemed to rise above partisan politics, as support for the president rose significantly among both Republicans and independents. In all, 57 percent said they now approved of the president’s job performance, up from 46 percent last month.
That's an 11-point bounce from their last poll, and the highest approval number for Obama in NYT/CBS polling since July 2009. Toplines here.
The thing that surprises me the most about this poll is that there seems to be significant movement among Republicans. I figured they were pretty much locked in at this point.
The president’s job approval rating rose 11 points, compared with an 8-point increase for President George W. Bush after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Mr. Bush’s bump evaporated within a month.
The increase in Mr. Obama’s ratings came largely from Republicans and independents. Among independents, his approval rating increased 11 points from last month, to 52 percent, while among Republicans it rose 15 points, to 24 percent.
Among Democrats, 86 percent supported his job performance, compared with 79 percent in April.
I actually wouldn't expect that Republican bump to last; it's independents we might be able to keep on board.
Of course, the usual caveats apply. We don't know how long this bounce will last, and Obama's numbers on the economy aren't moving much. My sense is that it's gas prices that are killing us there - and if and when we see downward movement in prices at the pump, Obama's economic numbers will start to rise again.
There were big boosts, however, in all the anti-terrorism and foreign policy numbers.
But in an indication that anxieties about unemployment, gas prices and the national debt have not withered with Bin Laden’s death, good will toward Mr. Obama did not extend to his economic policies. More than half said they disapproved of his handling of the economy, similar to the result last month, the poll found.
Mr. Obama received higher marks in several major areas of foreign policy. Just over half said they liked the way he was handling foreign policy generally, up from 39 percent in April. About six in 10 approved of his handling of Afghanistan, up from 44 percent in January. And more than seven in 10 supported his handling of the terrorism threat, up from about half in August 2010.
And to close, some music for your ears:
“Wiping out Bin Laden has been almost 10 years in the making, so it’s really significant,” Ms. Bottum, a retired [Republican] university professor, said. “I’m convinced he’s nailed the next election.”