POLL: Obama Approval Shows Durability-56 Percent Approve of President Obama

[Pirate Smile]

POLL: Obama Approval Shows Durability
ABC News-Washington Post Poll: 56 Percent Approve of President Obama

President Obama is showing durability against significant economic and policy challenges, maintaining majority approval for his job performance in the face of broad unemployment, a controversial health plan and continued doubts about his work on the war in Afghanistan.

Obama maintains approval in face of high unemployment and health care battle. The trick's in personal appeal, a strong base of support, weak opposition and a teaspoon of sugar in some of the medicine the president's prescribed.

The last is notably so on health care reform. Negatives abound: Fifty-four percent of insured Americans think it'll increase their own costs; among all, 56 percent think it'll raise overall costs, six in 10 think it could shut down many private insurers and 61 percent oppose covering abortions in federally supported plans. For all that, sweetened by other, more popular elements, the plan's holding essentially at an even split, 48 percent in favor, 49 percent opposed.

Obama, for his part, has a 56 percent job approval rating overall, better than on any individual issue tested in this ABC News/Washington Post poll save one – 60 percent for his handling of international affairs. That makes his current foray to Asia look well-timed, playing to a strength while he's got difficulties at home.

Continued personal popularity helps; 61 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Obama overall, his lowest since before the 2008 election and down 18 points from his peak when he took office, but a positive rating nonetheless. Intensity, while diminished, also is still with him; "strongly" favorable views of the president exceed strongly unfavorable ones by 12 points.
Obama's solid in his base – an 84 percent job approval rating among Democrats, falling sharply to 50 percent among independents and a mere 18 percent among Republicans. Notably, he and his party continue to benefit from a floundering opposition, with, for example, a 16-point margin for the Democrats over the Republicans in trust to handle the nation's main problems.

http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/obama-health-care-abc-news-washington-post-poll/story?id=9096041

[defendandprotect]

1. Imagine where we'd be if he'd say: "MEDICARE FOR ALL" . . .!!!

[rwheeler31]

2. What would it be like if MaCain had won?

[defendandprotect]

8. What would it have been like had Howard Dean won?

Why always suggest that the next alternative is a downward spiral?

We can always do better -- let's keep our hearts and minds on that -- !!

[rmann]

24. polls

some are showing him a little under 50

[sandnsea]

4. 26%? 16%?

If people really wanted that, it would be clear. They want a combination of public and private health coverage options.

[defendandprotect]

7. "Americans overwhelmingly want a public option" . . . per Senator Bernie Sanders

[sandnsea]

10. That would be the public part

of the public private combination.

Not single payer and nothing else.

[defendandprotect]

11. That would be ... MEDICARE FOR ALL, EVERYONE IN, NO ONE OUT ...

[sandnsea]

14. That is not the public option

The public option is just that, an option. That's what people want. The option.

They don't want Medicare and nothing else, no matter how many times you scream it.

[defendandprotect]

18. MEDICARE FOR ALL is up and running and ready to go -- Clinton wanted to put 57 year olds in --

Why would we try to pretend that we need to reinvent the wheel -- ?

There's nothing very complicated about this -- we have a program -- a public option --

ready to go.

Conyers' program is MEDICARE FOR ALL --

[Cha]

3. Kick for

President Obama.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. 84% among Dems. Not too shabby. (nt)

[Egnever]

21. Not "real" Democrats

Dont you read DU?

[PBS Poll-435]

6. Rec'd

Very happy so far with our President and his team.

[HopeOverFear]

9. K & R

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Wow! It's gone up!

Kind of makes me wonder what the hell the idiot journalists were talking about on BBC's "World Have Your Say" today. The host had two journalists on the show and one identified as conservative and the other one sure sounded like a conservative. They were both spinning a bunch of RW memes and talking about how ominous the Republican win in Virginia's governor race is for President Obama (the so-called swing of the "independents" against President Obama), how "the left" was just as critical of Bush and everything he did when he was POTUS (i.e. Hitler comparisons), Obama tripled the national debt (all by himself, of course, HCR will lead to government takeover of a big chunk of the economy, and that Obama is essentially bringing all this massive *opposition* on himself by trying to push so many *radical* changes. :eyes: The "conservative" participant was lamenting about how people don't want his "change" and that we the people whom voted for Obama (but probably not him, I'm sure) aren't getting what we thought they voted for. There were a few callers whom tried to counter them but the conservatives/Obama naysayers pretty much had the run of the show. The host didn't seem to be trying to "call them out" on any of their nonsense but maybe he was just trying to be *balanced* like the corporate media and even NPR likes to be. :eyes: It was nauseating to listen to and I wish that I had been able to call in and give them a piece of my mind. :mad: :banghead:

Obama hasn't even been in office an entire year and it would seem that, according to these yahoos, that President Obama is despised almost as much as President Bush was by the end of his second term and people are advancing on Washington with torches and pitchforks. WTF planet are THEY living on!

Meanwhile, in the real world..........56%!!!!!

:wtf:

[CakeGrrl]

13. K/R - and the Republicans further entrench themselves

as the increasingly extremist Party of No.

[RepublicanElephant]

15. k&r nt

[question everything]

16. And this was funny

It was reported on ABC News, with Charlie Gibson talking to Stephanopolous and the next item was Palin with Baba Wawa saying how "most Americans do not like Obama."

[Thrill]

17. Watching the news networks. I'm really surprised he isn't in the 30s right now

Its negative all the time. All the way down to stupid shit like that bow

[FrenchieCat]

19. They just showed 1 poll on MSNBC from Quinnipac with him at 49%......

and they proceeded to have a discussion about this poll for like 5 minutes, acting like it was the only poll available; the first time this President is below 50% was the topic of the discussion. Mr. Harwood and Ms. Thing were sitting there talking about how the White House should be worried.

I have never seen anything like it! The MSM working sooo hard to reduce this man's poll numbers anyway they can. What will frighten me most is if people in this country buy what the media is selling wholesale, cause then that means, this country is really no longer anything that I thought it was when I immigrated here.

[polichick]

20. Good news, especially with the right going more berserk than usual. k&r

[ind_thinker2]

22. Qunnipac is making big news on MSNBC

MSM is trying to pull this guy down... amazing crap

[ProgressOnTheMove]

23. I think it's slowly dawning on the right that we're in a far better direction than a year ago

Even with Lieberman, Stupaks and load of tea bags. The main factor is no plans ot go Iran, allies are returning, something will be done to address climate change, and jobs are slowly returning. There are details we may disagree on but the overall direction is somewhere far better than where we could of been.