Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 4/13-4/16/2009. All adults. MoE 2% (04/05-04/09 results):
| FAVORABLE | UNFAVORABLE | NET CHANGE |
---|
PRESIDENT OBAMA | 69 (68) | 27 (29) | +3 |
| | | |
PELOSI: | 37 (36) | 45 (46) | +2 |
REID: | 35 (34) | 49 (49) | +1 |
McCONNELL: | 22 (23) | 57 (56) | -2 |
BOEHNER: | 17 (18) | 60 (58) | -3 |
| | | |
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: | 44 (43) | 50 (51) | +2 |
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: | 16 (18) | 69 (68) | -3 |
| | | |
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: | 52 (51) | 42 (42) | +1 |
REPUBLICAN PARTY: | 24 (26) | 67 (66) | -3 |
Full crosstabs here. This poll is updated every Friday morning, and you can see trendline graphs here.
With a MoE of 2, it takes more than twice that to call it "significant", but the best way to read these small changes is to say that it was a better week for Dems than Rs, and that the trend lines tell the story. For example, the right/wrong track is now the best it's been since the poll started in January, Obama's fav's remain strong, and the GOP remains (in a political sense) significantly unpopular.
Here are the Congressional parties:
And here are the national parties:
Charlie Cook looks at his own numbers and comes to a similar conclusion:
As I wrote last week, for clues about what the political environment will be in November 2010, watch the economy, President Obama's job-approval ratings, and the generic congressional ballot test. The jury will be out on each of those factors for another year and a half, but new data hint at where they now stand.
Although the economy continues to be in "one-step-forward, one-step-back" mode, it is doing better than even a month or two ago. And Obama's numbers are holding up impressively well.
I encourage everyone to click that link, but one other thing (among many, including a good generic ballot test for Dems) from that Cook/RT Strategies poll of note:
Next, voters were asked which of these statements was closest to their own view: "I like Obama personally, and I like his policies"; "I like Obama personally, but I do not like his policies"; "I do not like Obama personally, but I like his policies"; "I do not like Obama personally, and I do not like his policies." A majority, 51 percent, liked Obama and his policies; 23 percent liked him but not his policies; 3 percent did not like him but liked his policies; 13 percent did not like him or his policies; and 11 percent weren't sure.
That should put to rest the "unpopular Obama policy" argument for a few hours. Obama remains more popular than his policies, but the policies are themselves popular enough (54-36). Glomming on to the usual April 15th tax protest fringe doesn't change that.