Posted on 01/25/2009 2:00:53 PM PST by Red Steel
On his first Sunday as President, Barack Obama continues to receive very positive reviews from the nation’s voters.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index for Sunday shows that 42% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Obama is performing as President. While that’s down a few points from a spike surrounding his inauguration, it is consistent with the level of strong support the President has enjoyed almost every single day since his electoral victory in November. “What They Told Us,” our weekly review, takes a look at the key polls from Inauguration Week.
At the same time, the President’s negatives have risen a bit since he assumed office and 20% now Strongly Disapprove of his performance. The higher negatives give Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +22, his lowest rating as President or President-elect since Thanksgiving (see trends).
However, Obama’s ratings remain far above those earned by his predecessor. President Bush left office with a final Presidential Approval Index rating of -28 (15% Strongly Approve and 43% Strongly Disapprove). The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). For more data, see Obama By the Numbers.
Not surprisingly, partisan and ideological divides remain clear when it comes to evaluating the President. The number of political conservatives who Strongly Disapprove of Obama’s performance has increased from 29% on the morning of Inauguration Day to 38% today. Only 17% of conservatives Strongly Approve.
At the other extreme, 79% of liberal voters Strongly Approve of Obama’s performance to date while just 5% Strongly Disapprove.
On a partisan basis, the President earns a +68 rating from Democrats, a -23 rating from Republicans, and a +8 from those not affiliated with either major party. Among the unaffiliated voters, 32% Strongly Approve and 24% Strongly Disapprove. Review recent demographic highlights.
Overall, 60% of all voters somewhat or strongly approve of Obama’s performance so far while 36% disapprove. Voters like what they see in the new President and 48% say that his inauguration begins a new era in race relations for the United States. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters nationwide say that American society is generally fair and decent, the highest level ever.
Consumer confidence has now fallen for four straight days. Forty-five percent (45%) support Obama’s economic recovery plan and 34% are opposed. Still, voters overwhelmingly expect the Obama plan to become law during his first 100 days in office.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters say that the President is more liberal than they are. Fifty-nine percent (59%) worry that Congress and the President will increase government spending too much while only 17% have the opposite concern and are more worried that the politicians will cut taxes too much.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it's in the news, it's in our polls).
A Fordham University professor has rated the national pollsters on their record in Election 2008. We also have provided a summary of our results for your review.
Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. The margin of sampling error—for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters--is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Results are also compiled on a full-week basis and crosstabs for the full-week results are available for Premium Members.
Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large (see methodology). Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process.
A review of last week’s key polls is posted each Saturday morning. Other stats on Obama are updated daily on the Rasmussen Reports Obama By the Numbers page. We also invite you to review other recent demographic highlights from the tracking polls.
Must have gone down 8% since I heard this last (yesterday).
Pollsters never ask me...
Give him a month. People are just starting to figure out that he is the liberal gasbag that people were trying to warn us about.
Either way, it’s down a lot from the 82% just after his anointing.
This is interesting because I was expecting a longer sustained high rating and a slower fall to 60%.
It won’t take much to dip to 50/50 again.
I’m hopeful that his dropping numbers (it was 80% at the beginning of the week) are a direct result of people becoming aware of the details of his ridiculous “stimulus” package, although I doubt there were that many people who became familiar with it so quickly. More likely it’s a response to the executive order closing the Gitmo prison.
Comrade Zero’s popularity is dropping like a rock. The Gallop Polls have him dropping 5% each working day. He’ll be less popular than “W” in two weeks! It will take another week for him to be less popular than the Democat Congress.
He’s got a ways to go before he gets close to Nine Percent Nancy. But at the rate he’s going I figure it’ll be three weeks or so.
I’ve been saying by mid-April Barry will hit bottom and start digging.
This scale is going to turn south soon.
Wait until all the info about Gitmo, Freedom of Choice, the ill advised stimulus package. etc become common knowledge; he will have less than a 50% approval.
36 % that’s just about how many conservatives there are in the US.
I think this a good sign. It's as if conservatives have woke up to what is going to happen with this guy. The whole 'let's give him a chance' crowd just realized he is about as liberal as it gets.
Voting present doesn’t work anymore.
Prediction for the year for Obama’s poll numbers
Feb - 58%
Mar - 55%
Apr - 54%
May - 51%
Jun - 50%
Jul - 50%
Aug - 47%
Sept - 46%
Oct - 45%
Nov - 45%
Dec - 43%
Every day I go without him paying my utility bill and mortgage payment, he gets more unpopular with me (he said sarcastically).
Pretty high negatives..
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