Rassmussen Poll:Obama's Popularity Plunging

[bonnie]

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_rasmussen_poll/2009/06/30/230686.html

June 30, 2009 7:27 PM

By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size

The latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll shows that President Barack Obama for the first time has a negative approval index — more Americans disapprove of his job performance than approve.

In an exclusive Newsmax interview, pollster Scott Rasmussen also disclosed that, if the economy does not improve over the next year, Obama's numbers will deteriorate even further — and Democrats will suffer in 2010.

See Video: Top pollster Scott Rasmussen talks about Obama’s plummeting popularity - Click Here Now

Rasmussen is founder and CEO of Rasmussen Reports and co-founder of the sports network ESPN. He has been an independent public opinion pollster for over a decade, and most major news organizations cite his reports.

Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella asked Rasmussen for an overview of the latest tracking poll.

"The raw numbers are pretty straightforward — 31 percent of Americans strongly approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job, 33 percent strongly disapprove," Rasmussen said.

"Before the last week we never had a circumstance where the number who disapprove outweigh the number who approve. So we're in new territory. Right now the approval index, at minus two, is as low as it's been.

"What we've seen in the last month is a growing number of people who strongly disapprove, and we're seeing it at a time when the president's honeymoon is coming to an end and people are beginning to look at the policies that he's promoting."

The closeness of the approve/disapprove numbers are "yet another indicator of how evenly divided our nation is," he added.

On specific issues, Rasmussen disclosed:

"When we talk about healthcare reform and the proposal the president is talking about, the country is fairly evenly divided. But those who have strong opinions tend to oppose the plan more than support it.

"On the cap-and-trade legislation [to reduce carbon emissions], 42 percent believe it's going to hurt the economy. Only 19 percent believe it's going to help.

"The takeover of General Motors is strongly opposed.

"Right now those things are weighing the president down. What's going to tell over the next year is how the economy performs. If a year from today, GM is doing great and throwing off profits and getting the taxpayers their money back, people will say we were wrong, the president was right, and it's great for him. But if GM is back asking for more bailouts, the president's numbers will be substantially weaker than they are today . . .

"If the economy responds negatively over the next year, it is going to hurt the Democrats in 2010.

"What the passage of legislation will actually do is bring ownership of the economy and economic performance more and more into Barack Obama's camp.

"Just over a month ago, 62 percent of Americans said that no matter what's happened in the last six months, George Bush is still more to blame for the economic mess than Barack Obama. That number fell to 54 percent, and the more of Obama's policies that are put in place, the more the blame or perhaps the credit will shift to the current president."

Rasmussen also found:

# The country is evenly split between those who approve of the way Obama has responded to the disputed elections in Iran and the repression of demonstrations that followed, and those who disapprove and believe he has not been aggressive enough.

# More Americans strongly oppose Obama's healthcare plan than strongly support it.

# About 30 percent of Americans favor a single-payer healthcare system, but a majority will oppose it.

"Americans like the idea of healthcare reform in theory, in the abstract," Rasmussen said.

"Only 35 percent think this system is in good or excellent shape. But people like the coverage they get by themselves. Among the insured, 70 percent say their own coverage is good or excellent. Among all Americans, only 8 percent say their coverage is poor."

[Dr. Shane]

I think this is about the same place President Bush was in at this point in his presidency. It just shows that Obama'a honeymoon is coming to an end. 54% approval rating is still pretty good.

[Woody]

He certainly is slippin'. People are now getting to know what he is really like. In my state he has slipped from 65% to 49%. Now that's slippin'. I suspect he will continue to drop as people absorb what he really stands for. Actions DO speak louder than words.

[carolaa]

Yes, it's taking longer to mop up the mess than he thought. I wonder, also, if his attempts to be inclusive and to compromise are ending up pleasing no one. It's interesting to watch, anyway.

[Dr. Shane]

I don't see a lot of leadership coming out of the White House. Most of what I see is that Congress is doing most of the work. Now, I suspect the White House is behind all these congressional efforts but most everything is coming out of the House of Representatives. What is most disturbing is that many of these bills are skipping hearings and going to the floor for a vote so fast that many of the representatives don't have time to read them.

There is a lot of partisanship going on to an extreme degree. The stimulus bill is a prime example. Democrats loaded it up with pork projects for their districts and didn't allow Republicans to add anything. It is little wonder it passed along partisan lines. President Obama would have shown some commendable leadership if he had spanked Nancy Pelosi by vetoing it and told her to give him a bill that had stimulus projects in Republican as well as Democrat districts.

[bonnie]

Quote:

There is a lot of partisanship going on to an extreme degree. The stimulus bill is a prime example. Democrats loaded it up with pork projects for their districts and didn't allow Republicans to add anything. It is little wonder it passed along partisan lines. President Obama would have shown some commendable leadership if he had spanked Nancy Pelosi by vetoing it and told her to give him a bill that had stimulus projects in Republican as well as Democrat districts.

The most commendable leadership would have been had he beeen true to his word.

No pork barrel and transparency,as in all this being posted on a website for the peons going to be paying the bill.

[bonnie]

Yes, it's taking longer to mop up the mess than he thought. I wonder, also, if his attempts to be inclusive and to compromise are ending up pleasing no one. It's interesting to watch, anyway.

I wonder if the day will ever come Obama is expected to be responsible for his own actions?

Being inclusive has not been one of his problems. Let's remember the gloat by Nancy Pelosi when the republicans complained they had only been giving a couple of hours to read antoehr bill.

Nancy Pelosi said something to the effect that "they should be grateful for that much time,they weren't needed and it could have been passed without them. Now that is what you call "bi-partisan"

[carolaa]

OK, here's a suggestion to all the Republicans: Push for an investigation into the Bush administration's use of torture and the CIA concealment from Congress of that secret program they won't tell us about.

Here's the reason: The Obama administration doesn't want to do this because it will take attention away from the healthcare and energy reforms they want to push. So if you don't like the reforms, push for the distractions.

(Or, another idea is for the Republicans to come up with some ideas of their own....)

[bonnie]

Quote:

OK, here's a suggestion to all the Republicans: Push for an investigation into the Bush administration's use of torture and the CIA concealment from Congress of that secret program they won't tell us about.

Seems to me that Cheney pushed for all to come out. I am quite sure if something can be made out of a program from the CIA congress will do so.

Quote:

Here's the reason: The Obama administration doesn't want to do this because it will take attention away from the healthcare and energy reforms they want to push. So if you don't like the reforms, push for the distractions.

Obama would love anything that would take the focus off his health care and his energy plan. He certainly doesn't want anyone to have the time to read what is in there.

But it sounds as if you have direct information from Obama

[bonnie]

It might be helpful if Obama would follow thru on just one of his promises.

He is very good at making them and doesn't seem very good at keeping them

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

Push for an investigation into the Bush administration's use of torture...

The Obama administration doesn't want to do this because...

The Obama Administration doesn't want to do this because it doesn't want the next administration to investigate them. People in Washington have long memories and when they start playing the revenge game it is one that will come back at them. President Obama knows that the Democrats are not going to be in power forever and if they push the envelope too far there will come a day when it is time for payback. That is why there is not going to be an investigation unless something comes out that creates such a public outcry that Congress will have to hold hearings.