The Official Obama Approval Ratings Thread

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Obama brought the change, but public sentiment shifted to another type of change.

I don't necessarily disagree with you there, but I don't think this new movement is towards hard right politics. Rather it's a move away from business as usual in Washington and a search for common sense politicians ( this is why Obama was so popular when he was promising change in Washington). What seems to concern the tea partiers (like how Obama might be a muslim/foreigner, or how he is trying to take away "their" country) does not seem to concern normal Americans. The only thing the median voter and the Tea party share in common is frustration.

You are thinking the desire is to return to the 2000's.  It isn't.  Interestingly, if you remove the name Obama and insert Carter, you could be talking about 1978.

The 2000's was a time of bipartisanship where timely, common sense legislation was passed? Uh..no. People didn't like how business is conducted in Washington (always about helping special interests as opposed to the country as a whole) and they wanted a change there. That is certainly why Obama was elected over Clinton and to a lesser extent his victory over Mccain was due to the same reason. Yet Washington still runs in the same exact way (stimulus goes more to public employee unions as opposed to building roads with contractors or the recent push to help the teachers union) and people are pissed off again. That doesn't mean they suddenly love Sarah "refudiate" Palin.

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Big news -- the last US combat troops are leaving Iraq.

Hallelujah!

Until the questions, "Who lost Iraq," is asked or an Iranian problem comes up.

Who lost Iraq? George W. Bush and the neocon clique.

Iranian problem? Maybe Allah can take Mahmoud Ahmedinedjad and send him to the Great Satan.

The dirty little secret was that with a brutal tyrant as its leader, Iraq was able to hold its own against Iran... without American combat troops. I see no evidence that any country except perhaps North Korea would stand in solidarity with Iran as an aggressor against Iraq. 

This is one of the great problems of the mid-east, it is easily destabilized.  One thing a US presence does is provide stability.

LOL wut?

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Approve 44%, -3.

Disapprove 55%, +3.


"Strongly Approve" is at 27%, -2.  "Strongly Disapprove" is at 43%, +1.

While there is a bounce back, those disapproval numbers are off the high.

I'm gonna call a bad poll on that.  +3 Dissaproval is rather odd.

No it isn't, but of course Democratics think anything that shows them in trouble is odd, because they are to stupid to know that the avg america don't like what the Democrats and Obama are doing.

Is that why Democrats in congress have a higher approval than Republicans?

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Yeah, I have trouble believing that 47% of voters strongly disapprove of Obama. That would mean that he could never win any of them back, barring unforseen events. That would give Obama a ceiling of about 53% according to the Rassmussen poll, and that would presume that in order to win re-election he needs to convince a great number of people who currently disapprove of him. At this point in time, I have difficulty accepting that.

PS: Scifiguy, Kentucky as a tossup?

This is probably on the higher end of the range, but it's not hard to believe that about 45% of the population is not going to vote for Obama in 2012 under any circumstances. America is a pretty polarized country right now.

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Today (Rasmussen):

47% Approve (+4)
52% Disapprove (-4)

A bad sample dropped off? Anyways, it seems like Obama's median numbers might have gone up just a bit from the summer.

[Sbane]

Today (Rasmussen):

47% Approve (+4)
52% Disapprove (-4)

A bad sample dropped off? Anyways, it seems like Obama's median numbers might have gone up just a bit from the summer.

It would seem this is the case.  He's probably right around 47-48% in reality right now.  He's certainly moved off of the lows of 41-43%.  It would make sense considering the NYC Mosque and Gulf oil spill stories were not positive at all for him and for the first time he's actually trying to boast about the Democrats' accomplishments in Congress. 

The midterms should be very interesting. 

Just the fact that more Democrats are getting interested in the election now might be enough to explain Obama's movement. Note that this movement is only observable on Rasmussen and not the other polls, most of whom are of adults or registered voters. Since this is a likely voter poll, with the dampening of the enthusiasm gap since the summer, Obama's numbers have improved as well.

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California

http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_Obama1010.pdf

53/42 approval/disapproval among registered voters.

And among likely voters it's 49-47. Ouch.

Edit: Although it's hard to see how you can only have 55% approval if 81% of liberals, 64% of moderates and 30% of conservatives approve of the job you are doing.

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Oh snap, so Obama would be reelected if the election were tomorrow?

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I'll be honest...Nevada and Colorado seem to be trending left.

I'm not certain Reid doesn't also beat Lowden and Tark or Bennett doesn't also beat Norton.

It looks like the West in general is moving to the left while the Midwest is moving heavily to the right.

The Northeast and South are what they are but there are some bright spots in both areas for the GOP and Dems (south carolina in the south and new hampshire in the north).

Seems like this state is trending left, and for the worst IMO. It'll be a messed up state in a few decades just watch, similar like CA and the leftcoast, runned to hell. It won't matter cause I'll find another place to move.

What I'd say the midwest and the rustbelts are trending right.

Right-wing, anti-tax policies are to blame for California's predicament.

Good thing they voted out all those evil Conservative Republicans who've controlled the state government for the last 40-odd years.

Prop 13 and the 2/3rds budget requirement have hurt California more than any politician in the last 40 years.

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I'll be honest...Nevada and Colorado seem to be trending left.

I'm not certain Reid doesn't also beat Lowden and Tark or Bennett doesn't also beat Norton.

It looks like the West in general is moving to the left while the Midwest is moving heavily to the right.

The Northeast and South are what they are but there are some bright spots in both areas for the GOP and Dems (south carolina in the south and new hampshire in the north).

Seems like this state is trending left, and for the worst IMO. It'll be a messed up state in a few decades just watch, similar like CA and the leftcoast, runned to hell. It won't matter cause I'll find another place to move.

What I'd say the midwest and the rustbelts are trending right.

Right-wing, anti-tax policies are to blame for California's predicament.

Good thing they voted out all those evil Conservative Republicans who've controlled the state government for the last 40-odd years.

Prop 13 and the 2/3rds budget requirement have hurt California more than any politician in the last 40 years.

And the voters want it.

Yes, but that doesn't change the facts. Also getting rid of Prop 13 immediately in this kind of housing market would be bad policy. But it needs to be done eventually, and most definitely for businesses.

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I'll be honest...Nevada and Colorado seem to be trending left.

I'm not certain Reid doesn't also beat Lowden and Tark or Bennett doesn't also beat Norton.

It looks like the West in general is moving to the left while the Midwest is moving heavily to the right.

The Northeast and South are what they are but there are some bright spots in both areas for the GOP and Dems (south carolina in the south and new hampshire in the north).

Seems like this state is trending left, and for the worst IMO. It'll be a messed up state in a few decades just watch, similar like CA and the leftcoast, runned to hell. It won't matter cause I'll find another place to move.

What I'd say the midwest and the rustbelts are trending right.

Right-wing, anti-tax policies are to blame for California's predicament.

Good thing they voted out all those evil Conservative Republicans who've controlled the state government for the last 40-odd years.

Prop 13 and the 2/3rds budget requirement have hurt California more than any politician in the last 40 years.

And the voters want it.

Yes, but that doesn't change the facts. Also getting rid of Prop 13 immediately in this kind of housing market would be bad policy. But it needs to be done eventually, and most definitely for businesses.

And, in a democracy, that is the only fact with which you have to be concerned.  If the electorate feels that repealing it is a better alternative, they will do so.

Yes, if I were the governor, I would be quite cognizant of that reality. But I am not a politician, thus I can say that Californian voters hold an irrational view on Prop 13 which is hurting the state. And that is just fact, regardless of whether or not the voters or you like it.

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weekend poll
every weekend he is going up!!

Why is a weekend poll biased? Or are you implying it's the week day polls that are biased? Could it be that these movements are just random and within the margin of error?

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The strongly disapprove numbers seem a little low as well. It looks like views towards Obama are getting less polarized, which is an excellent sign for his re-election chances.

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Rasmussen Obama (National)

Approve 49%, +3.

Disapprove 50%, -3.

"Strongly Approve" is at 23%, -1.  "Strongly Disapprove" is at 37%, -4.

Probably a good Obama sample entered, yesterday.

And yet the strongly approve numbers don't move above 23. There has definitely been some movement and there is less polarization in the approval of the President.

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Ras's 51% disapproval is as hardened as you can get.  That number isn't improving even if the economy comes back dramatically. 

Did you pull this straight out your ass? By your logic, Obama's approval rating can't fall below 43-44% even if unemployment touches 11%.

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Neither of you understand that if someone isn't willing to vote for Obama now, he or she will never be willing to vote for Obama, especially in the matchups with Palin.

What Obama is getting against her now is all that he's going to get.  He has no room to grow in a matchup against her.  All of his base is already voting for him and if a swing voter isn't voting for Obama now, he or she will be voting for her.

So the economy doesn't matter at all? You don't think that if unemployment magically falls to 7.5%, that more people might change their minds? Or Democrats who are discouraged to vote currently due to the economy, might actually turn out?

Obama's numbers against Palin amongst the more educated and prosperous population may be maxed out, but I don't think that is the case with the population at large.

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NYT/CBS News Poll:

49% Approve
39% Disapprove

http://documents.nytimes.com/new-york-timescbs-news-poll-reducing-the-deficit?ref=politics

Pretty bad numbers from a pollster that leans Dem.

+10 is bad.....you guys are getting pretty desperate.

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He has handled Egypt pretty well up to now, so I don't see why his numbers would slide due to it. I guess Americans just like interventionist foreign policy.

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Also, Obama's handling of Egypt has been beyond incompetent. 

Crushing the protests wouldn't have been competent. Especially since we were cool with the one in Tunisia. That would not look good.

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Also, Obama's handling of Egypt has been beyond incompetent. 

Crushing the protests wouldn't have been competent. Especially since we were cool with the one in Tunisia. That would not look good.

There are other solutions than supporting regime change and supporting the crushing of the protests.

Such as?

Such as shutting up, like he did with the protests in Iran.

I thought he's done a pretty decent job of that......

Although recently that did change, I am guessing it was just to show the US isn't propping up Mubarak. There is definitely a very fine balancing act Obama has to do here.

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I plan on moving out of CO in a few years, probably to Texas or somewhere down south, thank god! CO is the next CA, believe it or not.

Arizona demographics are just behind Colorado, followed by Texas.

WTF else is there to move to escape the mental disorder?

Somalia.

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Not great approval, but the Republicans are doing badly in Iowa.

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These are quite interesting poll results..... I have a feeling now that even if unemployment is hovering around 9%, Obama will win in 2012 unless the Republicans nominate someone of caliber, which they refuse to do. I think it will take Europe imploding before the 2012 election for Obama to lose, and even then I think he would have a good chance if he can deflect the blame of the sh**tty economy on to the Europeans and off of him.

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Not great approval, but the Republicans are doing badly in Iowa.

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These are quite interesting poll results..... I have a feeling now that even if unemployment is hovering around 9%, Obama will win in 2012 unless the Republicans nominate someone of caliber, which they refuse to do. I think it will take Europe imploding before the 2012 election for Obama to lose, and even then I think he would have a good chance if he can deflect the blame of the sh**tty economy on to the Europeans and off of him.

The "blame Europe first" strategy?

Lol, but it might actually work. Of course not if Fox has anything to say about it. Obviously everything wrong with the world is Obama's fault.

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Who would be the Republican candidate under this scenario? It's going to take someone of some caliber to win California, though I do agree it's not impossible. Republicans refuse to do that though. It goes against their values or something. I don't understand them.

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Calm down buddy. I think I made it quite clear what I thought about the Republican's chances in California, considering who they are about to nominate. JJ thinks Romney or Perry could almost win in California, or New York, but as usual he is wrong. But you put in a candidate who talks clearly and says we need to raise taxes but at the same reform entitlements, and add in a worsening economy and you have that sort of a victory. And yes I do think the economy needs to do much worse than just create 0 jobs for this scenario to occur.

And don't for a moment think a victory like this would be some great endorsement of the GOP. They could just as easily get thrown out in the next election. That's just how things are these days with the electorate.