Obama's Poll Numbers Fall

Doug Schoen, who once polled for former President Bill Clinton, and Scott Rasmussen of the independent Rasmussen Reports are two of the fairest and most reliable pollsters working the “political fields.”

Today they team at WSJ to produce an op-ed that’s really a very informed report in which they say (excerpts):

It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration.

Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true.

The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.

Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. (We haven’t heard that from MSM, have we? - - JinC)

Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama's net presidential approval rating -- which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve -- is just six, his lowest rating to date.

Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president's performance.

This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative. …

Schoen and Rasmussen provide a great deal more polling information from a variety of sources and discuss a broad range of public issues and preferences before they close with - - -

Despite the economic stimulus that Congress just passed and the budget and financial and mortgage bailouts that Congress is now debating, just 19% of voters believe that Congress has passed any significant legislation to improve their lives.

While Congress's approval has increased, it still stands at only 18%.

Over two-thirds of voters believe members of Congress are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping the American people.

When it comes to the nation's economic issues, two-thirds of voters have more confidence in their own judgment than they do in the average member of Congress. (I’ll bet most of those saying they have more confidence in Congress are liberals who vote for people like Sens. Reid, Durbin and Dodd and Reps. Frank, Rangel and Waters; and, of course, Speaker Pelosi.)

Finally, what probably accounts for a good measure of the confidence and support the Obama administration has enjoyed is the fact that they are not Republicans.

Virtually all Americans, more than eight in 10, blame Republicans for the current economic woes, and the only two leaders with lower approval ratings than Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

All of this is not just a subject for pollsters and analysts to debate. It shows fundamentally that public confidence in government remains low and is slipping.

We face the possibility of substantial gridlock along with an absolute absence of public confidence that could come to mirror the lack of confidence in the American economy that the Dow and the S&P are currently showing.

Schoen and Rasmussen’s entire report/commentary’s here.

I hope you all give it a look.