A very interesting poll analysis just out from TPM I wanted to share. Now personally I don’t much care for polls, but since polls that seem to hurt the President get so much play I thought I’d present some data from a different frame.
We have also seen similar numbers over the last month, in the Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls, in CNN surveys and in Quinnipiac. The question at this point is not if the President will see tough challenge, but given the economic numbers, how is it that he is still ahead of his potential GOP rivals?
The polls all provide an answer: Voters still like President Obama as a person, and indeed support many of his individual policies, and are therefore conflicted about firing him. His favorability ratings across many polls are higher than his approval ratings. Some have made the comparison between Obama and former President Ronald Reagan, who maintained high favorability even though he himself faced challenges on job approval. Reagan had a major dip in approval during his first term, only to win in a landslide in 1984 after the economy sped up.
But some of the real underlying trouble is in the President's numbers on other qualities than likeability. NBC/WSJ also rated a number of other attributes on a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the highest. On "having strong leadership qualities" the President rated a 5 or 4 from 42 percent of respondents, way down from the previous highs of his first two years in office. His rating on "being a good commander-in-chief" also suffered dropping to a 4 or 5 rating from only 41 percent, and on his "ability to handle a crisis" was down 14 points.
Yet, voters are not ready to blame the President directly for what happened with the debt deal, which has brought about historic ire from Americans toward Washington. In the same NBC/WSJ poll, respondents identified a clear villan in the debt ceiling debacle: Congressional Republicans. 30 percent thought they were to blame versus 13 who pointed to Obama. Even Congressional Democrats actually got more blame than the President, at 15 percent, which was the same percentage who blamed everyone involved. So despite a drop in a perception of the President's leadership qualities, data from the same poll shows that people aren't ready to believe those qualities have been the issue in Washington's problems.
Bolding by poster
Talking Points Memo
TPM in their title described it this way.
Gosh, I wonder if the President knew that the actual mass of America would assign the blame for these debacles correctly. That President of ours, he told us he would always bet on the fairness and intelligence of the American people and I thought he was crazy for thinking it. I guess that's why he's President and we're not.
Oh and one more thing from TPM's analysis
Not only does Obama beat both Romney and Tex. Gov. Rick Perry in hypothetical matchups, the Republican field isn't particularly attractive as a group of candidates. The poll tested which GOP contenders voters would consider voting for in the 2012 general. Only Romney, who 9 percent said they were definitely ready to vote for and who 41 percent said they would consider, reached a combined 50 percent. Only slightly more people were ready for vote for Perry (11 percent) but less were considering him (33 percent), for a total of 44 percent. And Michele Bachmann has basically invalidated herself as a candidate with 58 percent of general election voters who wouldn't consider her at all.
Talking Points Memo
Wonder if there is anyway to, you know build on that kind of thing?
