AP-Gfk poll: Obama approval hits 60 percent

AP/YahooNews ^ | 5/11/11 | LIZ SIDOTI and JENNIFER AGIESTA

[Kartographer]

President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election — caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years.

[Berlin_Freeper]

The homeless have a digital camera.

[Jagdgewehr]

Nice that Bush created the circumstances that elevated Hussein’s standing in ignorant people’s minds.

Aphoristic brilliance.

[Raebie]

Yep, look at page 37. This poll is BS.

Dems - 46%
Repubs - 29%
Ind - 4%

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK_Poll_May_Topline_051011_POLITICS.pdf

[TSgt]

Details...details...

[liberalh8ter]

The DNC.

[TomGuy]

Now that's what I call 'UNEXPECTED' and UNEXPLAINABLE!

He managed to get a lot more through the lame duck session after the 2010 election than most opposition thought he would. That was a win for him, too.

The perception of an improvement in the economy, reduced joblessness, bridled inflation, and Obama wins. Especially when he is matched against any of the many retreads the GOP seem to be offering.

Incumbency is difficult to beat. And so far, the GOP wannabes are just not that inspiring.

[chiefqc]

And of that 60% there are actualy 2% that are alive.

[hal ogen]

Truly...does anyone with at least one functioning brain cell believe any of this pro-nobama crap?

[baddog 219]

Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent

[dfwgator]

Incumbency is difficult to beat. And so far, the GOP wannabes are just not that inspiring.

Obama is going to get re-elected by default.

[Flightdeck]

“...every other poll shows the zero at about 51% approval right now.”

Obama should only have the 15% of Americans who are clinically insane and no more.

[Rappini]

It’s simple we are being setup.

[Rennes Templar]

More BS:

“Impressions of the nation’s fiscal outlook have improved following last Friday’s positive jobs report, which showed American companies are on a hiring spree.”

Blatant propoganda masquerading as journalism.

[Clyde5445]

Here is the link to the raw data.

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK_Poll_May_Topline_051011_POLITICS.pdf

---

Here is the breakdown.

The Dem/Rep/Ind breakdown in this poll is 46/29/4, as AP assigned most of the leaners to the parties. That is a 17-point gap, more than twice what was seen in the 2008 actual popular vote that elected Obama.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/11/and-the-award-for-the-most-ridiculous-poll-sampling-goes-to/

[RockinRight]

No other polls seem to indicate this. However, was there ever any doubt the MSM would dig up ONE poll showing this number?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And the award for the most ridiculous poll sampling goes to …

Oddly — or perhaps not — the AP report doesn’t include a link back to the survey’s raw data.  In order to find it, one has to go to GfK’s site for its AP polls.  The partisan breakdown in the sample is found about halfway through the PDF, and it explains a great deal about how Obama managed to get such a high boost in this poll while others showed shallow bumps that had already started to subside.

The Dem/Rep/Ind breakdown in this poll is 46/29/4, as AP assigned most of the leaners to the parties.  That is a 17-point gap, more than twice what was seen in the 2008 actual popular vote that elected Obama.  It only gets worse when independents are assigned properly.  When taking out the leaners, the split becomes — I’m not kidding — 35/18/27.  Oh, and another 20% “don’t know.”  That’s significantly worse than the March poll, in which the proper D/R/I was 29/20/34, and far beyond their post-midterm sample of 31/28/26.  It’s pretty easy to get Obama to 60% when Republicans are undersampled by almost half.

Frankly, this sample is so bad that no real insights can be gleaned from it. 

[Gondring]

[...] independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election [...]

A fact oft-forgotten.

[VanDeKoik]

They should be embarrassed to have released such a skewed poll.

[paulycy]

Have Your Say Every Day.

Free Republic Runs ONLY On Your Donations.
Make Yours NOW and End the FReepathon!

[Gondring]

On the other hand, there was this question (G11a) about "Do you consider yourself..."

• Liberal - Strongly: 9%
• Liberal - Somewhat: 14%
• Moderate: 36%
• Conservative - Somewhat: 22%
• Conservative - Strongly: 16%
• Don't know: 3%
• Refused: 1%

So it highly oversampled self-proclaimed conservatives. And since the poll leaned toward the South, it could be many conservative Democrats. And many conservatives don't associate with the Republican Party.