President Obama’s Approval Rating Jumps 5 Points as Millions Sign Up for Obamacare

By: Jason Easley/Politicusa

President Obama is beginning 2014 on the upswing as millions are signing up for the ACA, and his approval rating has increased by 5 points according to Gallup.

The Gallup Obama approval daily tracking poll reveals that the president’s approval rating has jumped five points since the days before Christmas from 39%-44%. Disapproval of the president has fallen from 54%-49%. President Obama’s approval numbers shift wildly based on the tone of the media coverage that he is receiving, but media’s negativity was hiding a convergence of positive things.

Now that the ACA website is repaired, and millions of Americans are signing up, the media’s endless drumbeat of negativity has temporarily stopped. Without the Republican fueled Obama bashing from the corporate media, the president’s approval rating has gone up, and his disapproval rating has gone down.

Republicans and the media have consistently failed to understand, and in many cases actively worked to undermine, the fact that President Obama remains basically popular. For the sixth year in a row, the president was named the most admired man in the world. For as much as Republicans try to project their hatred and contempt for this president on to the nation, the rest of the country has never shared their feelings.

Obama’s improved poll numbers also reflect the fact that Obamacare is working. Enrollment surged in December, and yesterday HHS announced that 6 million people now have healthcare coverage thanks to the ACA. The negative stories about a glitchy website have been replaced with millions of Americans getting access to affordable healthcare.

A continually improving economy, a healthcare reform that is working, and a president who remains likable are all factors that suggest that the dip in Obama approval that occurred was caused by a combination of the ugly political environment caused by the government shutdown, a brutally negative Republican fueled media cycle surrounding the ACA website, and the public frustration caused by Washington gridlock and obstruction.

Barring a scandal or a self inflicted political wound, President Obama’s poll numbers are likely to continue to improve through 2014. Because in the sort of words of John McCain, the fundamentals of this presidency are strong. Obama may not Bill Clinton, but he isn’t George W. Bush either. This suggests that Barack Obama’s approval rating should be on the climb throughout 2014.

If 2013 was President Obama’s presidential storm, 2014 could be setting up for a bit of smooth sailing executive branch sunshine.

Support for Obama grows

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Obama's approval numbers high heading 2nd term

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Obama Approval Rating Reaches Three-Year High In Poll

By Ariel Edwards-Levy/Huffington Post

A month after the election, President Barack Obama's approval ratings are at a level he hasn't seen for years, with contentious negotiations over the upcoming "fiscal cliff" so far not dampening his support.

Obama has an approval rating of 53 percent among registered voters, according to a poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University -- the strongest approval level the university has measured since the summer of 2009.

Obama's disapproval rating of 40 percent makes the president's net approval rating the best in over a year.

"Nothing like winning an election to boost your job approval," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "President Barack Obama hasn't had a score this good since his 52-40 percent approval rating May 5, 2011, right after the death of Osama bin Laden."

Fifty-eight percent of voters said they're generally optimistic about the president's second term. The poll surveyed 1,949 registered voters by phone between Nov. 28 and Dec. 3, with a 2.2 percent margin of error.

Other surveys also show Obama faring well with the public -- his approval rating is 52 percent among along Americans in the Gallup tracking poll, and 54 percent in theRasmussen tracking poll.

HuffPost Pollster's chart, which includes all publicly available polls, gives Obama a 51 percent approval rating, his highest since late 2009, with 45 percent of respondents disapproving.

Team Obama Exposes Conservative Media Bias In Poll Stories

By Jason Easley/politicususa

Obama adviser David Axelrod put out a memo today that both highlighted and took to task the media’s conservative bias when reporting stories about new polls.

In the memo, Axelrod wrote,

Members of the media have focused on the President’s approval ratings as if they existed in a black box. Following the intransigence of the Republicans during the debt debate, the approval rating of the GOP brand dropped to a historic low. The approval rating of Congress dropped to a near historic low. Americans are still dealing with the impact of the financial crisis and recession and the long-term economic trends that have seen wages stagnate for many, and that is manifested in their anger towards Washington. There’s no doubt that Americans are calling on leaders in Washington to take immediate action to address their economic challenges — exactly what the President is advocating for.

According to a CNN poll released on Wednesday, a plurality of Americans approve of the President’s jobs plan. Two thirds believe we should cut taxes for the middle class and rebuild America’s roads and bridges. Three quarters believe we need to put our teachers and first responders back to work. More Americans trust the President to handle the economy than Congressional Republicans by a margin of 9 points.

Despite what you hear in elite commentary, the President’s support among base voters and in key demographic groups has stayed strong. According to the latest NBC-WSJ poll, Democrats approve of his performance by an 81%-14% margin. That’s stronger than President Clinton’s support among Democrats at this point in his term and, according to Gallup, stronger than any Democratic President dating back to Harry Truman through this point in their presidency. 92 percent of African Americans approve. And a PPP poll out this week showed the President winning 67 percent of Hispanics against Romney and 70 percent against Perry, a higher percentage than he captured against Senator McCain in 2008.

….

Despite the Republican candidates just beginning to undergo the media scrutiny that occurs during a presidential campaign, from North Carolina to Nevada, the President remains ahead or in a dead heat with the Republican candidates in the battleground states that will decide the election in 2012. And ultimately it is in those battleground states where voters will choose, 14 months from now, between two candidates, their records, and their visions for the country.

Axelrod’s memo did point out a disturbing trend in the media’s recent coverage over their own polling. It is kind of hard to miss the fact that editors and headline writers have been playing up the negative, even when other data in their own polling undercuts the negativity. Axelrod mentioned the recent CNN story that emphasized Obama’s sinking approval rating without mentioning the fact that the same poll found that he is still more trusted than his opponents on the number one issue of the economy.

The latest example of conservative bias in poll interpretation comes from a Bloomberg story that uses Hillary Clinton’s popularity to make the point that voters are feeling buyer’s remorse about electing Obama. The premise is that since Hillary Clinton is more popular, voters regret electing Obama.

The problem is that Bloomberg’s own polling data contradicts their story. While it is true that more people think the country would be better off under Hillary Clinton than when the question was asked a year ago, only 34% this way compared to 47% who thought the nation would be the same. This supposed buyer’s remorse was actually only a 9 point swing.

A deeper look into the data found that tea party supporters (44%) were the group who thought that America would be better off under Clinton. Fifty seven percent of Democrats thought the country would be the same. Tea Party supporters who probably didn’t vote for Obama think that the country would be better off under Clinton, and the majority of Democrats think that the country would be in the same shape under Clinton or Obama.

If most of the people who voted for Obama don’t think that the country would be better off under Clinton, then this isn’t a case of buyer’s remorse. The Bloomberg story was trying to play up the horse race narrative with misleading analysis, just as TeaNN chose to omit poll results from their story earlier in the week so that they could emphasize the negative.

No one is asking for the media to blow sunshine up our backsides, but it would be nice if they could analyze the polls in an honest fashion. Most of the polling right now is contradictory and muddled. Americans don’t like the state of the economy, but they do like Obama as a person. People aren’t happy with the economy, but they are still blaming Bush and trusting Obama more than the GOP to fix it.

Instead of offering a truthful overview, most news organizations are putting an anti-Obama conservative spin on their polling analysis.They are doing this because they have a financial interest in 2012 being a close election. Close presidential elections are good for business, so if the media has to oversell the negativity towards Obama or the GOP’s chances in 2012, this is exactly what they will do.

Conservative media bias has finally made its way into the interpretation of the polling. The conservative corporate media wants a close race in 2012, and they are going to do everything in their power to make it happen.

Axelrod’s push back was spot on, but something tells me he is going to be sending out a lot more of these memos between now and November 2012.

Poll shows highest disapproval yet over Gov. Rick Snyder's job performance

By Peter Luke/MLive.com

Gov. Rick Snyder's job approval ratings continue to languish as Michigan's unemployment rate rises and discontent with politics in general grows. 

According to the August survey by the Lansing firm EPIC-MRA, 62 percent disapproved of the job Snyder is performing as governor, the highest since taking office in January and up from 57 percent in July.

According to the survey of 600 voters Aug. 13-16 released today, 33 percent approved of the job he was doing. Both the positive and negative numbers in EPIC's poll have been fairly consistent dating to early May as his budget and tax overhaul was being approved in the Legislature. Since then, voters remain unconvinced it was the right thing to do.

When those plans were introduced in February, 32 percent approved of the job he was doing, but only 37 percent disapproved.

A greater percentage of those surveyed, however, like Snyder personally as 42 percent regarded him favorably. An equal percentage regarded him unfavorably. In January, his favorable to unfavorable spread was 59 percent to 8 percent.

About 69 percent of Democrats surveyed don't like Snyder and 19 percent do. Among Republicans it's the opposite - 69 percent like him, 14 percent don't. Self-described independents are evenly split.

EPIC pollster Bernie Porn said voters are skeptical that business tax cuts will improve the state's economy and don't care for either the 2012 cuts in state aid to education or the increased taxes on retirement income that take effect Jan. 1.

Unless there is swift and sure job creation that can justify those unpopular changes, Porn said Snyder's numbers are unlikely to climb. "He's captive to what's happening in the economy."

When asked about his poll numbers, Snyder says that personal meetings with residents suggests the public is more supportive than the surveys say.

Motor City Liberal Comment: Hey Motor Times, Republican Michigander and Blog Prof look on the bright side Rick Scott saved your guy from being the governor with lowest approval ratings among newly elected governor. 

The Republican polled show how hypocritical these S.O.Bs are, these were the same people screaming about Graholm now support the things they accused Graholm of doing because the person whose driving the jobs out of the state has an R after his name.

Barack Obama’s Personal Approval Rating Hits 72% In Battleground States

By Jason Easley

If you want to know why Barack Obama is looking good for reelection despite the our nation’s economic struggles, the new Politico/GWU poll has your answer. 72% of voters in battleground states approve of Obama as a person.

The Politico/GWU poll found that despite 56% of voters saying they are concerned about the economy, President Obama has a 52% job approval rating. Obama only has a 42% approval rating on the economy, but by a margin of 48%-42% he is more trusted to handle the economy than congressional Republicans. Obama is also more trusted to create jobs (47%-43%), healthcare (52%-41%), handle Social Security (50%-37%), keep America safe from terrorism (55%-34%), and more Americans believe that he shares their values (51%-38%). The only issue that the GOP led him on was the deficit, and their lead was within the margin of error (47%-44%).

84% of voters in battleground states said that the death of Bin Laden did not change their support for Obama either way, and 59% of them were either definitely going to vote for Obama or are strongly considering voting for Obama. Only 38% of those polled said that they would definitely not vote for Obama.

When matched up head to head with Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, Obama leads Romney 51%-38%, and Pawlenty 50%-36%.

If it isn’t the death of Bin Laden, then what is raising Obama’s approval numbers? The answer can be found in Obama’s personal popularity. Obama remains very personally popular. Overall 72% of battleground state voters personally like Obama. Of this group, 48% approve strongly of Obama the person, another 24% somewhat approve, 10% were unsure, 4% somewhat disapprove, and 15% strongly disapprove.

Despite the bad economy, these battleground state voters really like Barack Obama. Most Americans are not well informed on the issues. The informed American electorate is a myth. In 2010, 67% of voters got their information from television. The Internet has almost caught newspapers (27%-24%) to be the second most popular destination for information. 31% of Internet users viewed campaign videos online. This is an electorate that watches more than it reads, and Barack Obama plays very well on TV and video.

Since 2008, Republicans have been trying to personally attack or delegitimize Obama through various allegations of un-Americanism. They aren’t doing this just out of hate. They know that their only chance of winning in 2012 is to make Obama less personally popular. They have been trying for years, and they still haven’t made a dent in his personal approval.

When many Americans go to vote on Election Day, they aren’t thinking about issues or policy. Some people are voting for the candidate that they like best. The question do I want to spend the next four years of my life looking at this guy on television is a legitimate one in the minds of many voters.

For as long as there has been polling a bad economy was the one sure thing that makes a president unpopular, but Obama is defying the odds. The President’s personal popularity is politically carrying him through these tough times.

Sometimes the main question for voters is, do I like the guy? If Republicans can’t figure out how to get America to like Obama a whole lot less, they stand little chance of beating him in 2012.

It’s simple. It’s obvious, and it’s the truth.

Motor City Liberal Comment: If the Repugs in Ohio,Florida,Wisconsin and Michigan had sat back on pushing for their wacky ideas President Obama could have a tough mountain to climb in these states. But since the Repugs are putting on a full court press on the white middle class in those states not only they made Republicans that are up for re-election or running for state wide offices weak  but President Obama could carry those states by double digits.

Poll: Lieberman’s favorability rating has plummeted in the past two weeks.

By Zaid Jilani In recent weeks, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has faced ire from advocates for the public option, which he successfully forced the Senate to drop from its legislation by threatening to filibuster it. Now, a new CNN poll has found that Lieberman’s “favorable ratings have taken almost a 10-point drop in the past two weeks“:

Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) favorable ratings have taken almost a 10-point drop in the past two weeks, a new poll found.

31 percent of people told a CNN poll conducted Dec. 16-20 that they had a favorable opinion of Lieberman, a key Senate centrist who’d opposed healthcare reform only until recently. Opinion toward Lieberman, though, was down from a 40 percent favorable rating in the same CNN poll conducted December 2-3 of this year.

Poll respondents’ unfavorable opinion of Lieberman ticked upward over the same period. 34 percent of those polled said they now have an unfavorable opinion of Lieberman, compared to 28 percent who have an unfavorable opinion.

O’Reilly: ‘We triple-check everything’ that goes on my show.

By Matt Corley

In an interview with TV Guide published on Monday, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said that he was proud that he has “not had to retract a story in 13 years” on Fox News. Admitting that he had “made mistakes” on the air, O’Reilly said they were always corrected “quickly.” He attributed his lack of a retraction to the “brain room here at Fox” where they “triple-check everything.” Despite his claim of rigorous fact-checking, O’Reilly opened his show last night with the false claim that President Obama’s 47 percent approval rating released by Gallup on Monday was “the lowest number ever recorded for any president at this point in his term.” Watch it:

If O’Reilly and his staff had simply checked Gallup’s historical data, he would have seen that President Gerald Ford reached a 42 percent approval rating in a shorter period of time and President Bill Clinton reached a low of 37 percent six months into his first