Public Opinion Strategies

For quite some time, Republican pollsters have been making the point to their clients: don’t confuse the attitudes of base and swing voters toward the President.  Base GOP voters do not like Obama’s policies, and  they dislike him personally (some more vehemently than others).  However, we had consistently seen in our polls and focus groups that [...] Read more

Last week, I conducted a national survey for American Action Network.  The two key political environment questions show the significant opportunity Republicans have this year.  While the overall numbers on the President’s approval rating and the generic ballot are good news, one key crosstab highlights the wave that is building.
The generic ballot shows Republicans leading 44%-39%.   [...] Read more

Senior White House political adviser David Axelrod recently made the case that one of three ways the Democrats could improve their position in the 2010 mid-terms would be for job growth and an economic recovery.   Obviously an economy that is creating jobs rather than simply shedding them is more helpful to the party in power, [...] Read more

Mullings.com writer (and friend of  Public Opinion Strategies) Rich Galen pointed out today that on the 100th day of his Administration, Barack Obama had a 67% approve/28% disapprove rating.
Now, however, after 224 days of his Administration, Obama has tumbled down to a 51% approve/42% disapprove rating.  Thus, it took just 124 days for the President’s [...] Read more

Marriage.  Marriage is what brings us together today.  Most of the analyses looking at politics today focus on either the gender gap, or the generation gap, or the huge differences between base partisans.  However, one of the more enduring and important gaps is the marriage/single gap.
The 2008 exit polls showed the gap.  The 66% of [...] Read more

The recent NPR survey conducted jointly between POS and GQR underscores the biggest change in the President’s fortunes in the first six months of the Obama Administration.  The tide of intensity of public opinion is now moving solidly against Barack Obama — both politically and on policy.
(This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of NPR or GQR).
While [...] Read more

When POS’ Obama: 100 Days In survey asked Americans how they felt about President Obama’s economic polices, most American found themselves hopeful but firmly in the middle.
Only a handful (13%) count themselves among supporters who are confident that the new president’s economic policies will work. SHOCK: The new president can only count on one-in-four (25%) [...] Read more

I first posted on the positive trends in Western States last month.  The positive movement witnessed last month is holding.
Obama Approval
President Obama’s approval rating continues its descent in the West.  Last month, we reported a 56% approval rating, with 37% disapproving of the job he is doing as President.  That marked a ten point drop [...] Read more

Pew Research just released an interesting study of Presidential approval trends going back to Richard Nixon’s first term.
In it, they examined job ratings for Presidents early in their term, and looked at the gap between Republicans and Democrats on approval. For example, Obama has 59% approval overall, with 88% from Democrats and 27% from Republicans. [...] Read more

It has to grate President Obama and his team to read the recent Pew poll summary that notes that Obama’s current job approval ratings (59%-26%) “remain on par with George W. Bush’s ratings in March 2001 (55% approved, 25% disapproved).”
In fact, after nearly eight weeks in office, Obama’s job approval has slipped under the 60% [...] Read more