Obama’s More Popular Than Ever, Even If Everything Else Is Awful [Poll]
President Obama recently enjoyed a surge in popularity that he hasn’t experienced since his first year in office, according to recent polls.
The US economy is down, the deficit is high, and the fiscal cliff still looms, but President Obama is completely immune to the dilemmas of our country, reports The Washington Post. A recent WaPo/ABC poll shows that 60 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the president, up from his mid-to-low 50s during 2012. He also now has more “strongly positive” ratings than “strongly negative,” breaking a two-year stretch of mediocre-to-positive public perception.
Obama’s boost primarily comes from his base, with a double-digit increase in popularity among traditionally left-leaning demographics. However, Obama’s popularity has improved some with the majority of Americans (the ever-elusive Independents and Moderates) as well.
So, was it the speech that did it? This is where the polls get interesting. Obama’s second inaugural address, which has been criticized by his opponents as being one of the most partisan and radically liberal in history, was a home-run with his base. No surprise there, but what was interesting was that a full quarter of Americans had no opinion whatsoever on the address.
Around 50 percent approved of it to various degrees, a quarter hated it, and a quarter just didn’t have an opinion. That’s eight in 10 Democrats in approval and three in 10 Republicans and Independents with zero reaction. Balanced against the popularity poll results, only 3 percent of Americans have no opinion of Obama altogether.
Either way, the poll results represent a clear win for President Obama, which he will likely use to push legislative victories in the next year. Still, we face some dense partisanship in upcoming battles, which will make it difficult for him to solidify support among Republicans and conservative Democrats in his second term.
What do you think of President Obama? Do you have a “strongly positive” opinion of him, or a “strongly negative” one? Are you somewhere in the middle?
