Republicans not handling election results well

PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.

49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.

Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.

One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.

Other notes from our national poll:

-Grover Norquist is largely unknown nationally, and among voters who are familiar with him he is generally disliked. Only 15% have a favorable opinion of him to 37% with a negative one, with 48% not holding an opinion one way or the other. Even among Republicans just 18% see him positively, while 23% have an unfavorable view. Only 23% of voters think it's important for politicians to follow Norquist's tax pledge to 39% who think it's not important and 38% who don't have an opinion.

-President Obama's received a modest post election bump in his approval rating. 50% of voters now approve of him to 47% who disapprove, up a net 4 points from 48/49 on our final post election poll. Voters trust Obama over Congressional Republicans on the issue of Libya by a 48/45 margin, suggesting that their attacks on the issue aren't getting much traction.

-As much of an obsession as Bowles/Simpson can be for the DC pundit class, most Americans don't have an opinion about it. 23% support it, 16% oppose it, and 60% say they don't have a take one way or the other.

The 39% of Americans with an opinion about Bowles/Simpson is only slightly higher than the 25% with one about Panetta/Burns, a mythical Clinton Chief of Staff/former western Republican Senator combo we conceived of to test how many people would say they had an opinion even about something that doesn't exist.

Bowles/Simpson does have bipartisan support from the small swath of Americans with an opinion about it. Republicans support it 26/18, Democrats favor it 21/14, and independents are for it by a 24/18 margin. Panetta/Burns doesn't fare as well with 8% support and 17% opposition.

-David Petraeus has a 44/30 favorability rating nationally and is seen much more favorably by Democrats (47/25) at this point than Republicans  (38/36).

Full results here

Comments

[Tender Branson]

Why is your Obama approval rating off by about 10 points ?

Your final pre-election poll (which was mostly correct in predicting the overall election result), showed Obama's rating at 48-49, like the release above says.

But the media exit poll showed Obama's approval rating at 54-45 approve.

And now you have it at just 50-47, when Rasmussen and Gallup have Obama's approval figure ahead by double-digits (Rasmussen is 56-43 today and Gallup has 53-41).

You also have Obama down big among Indies and a lot of Democrats disapprove. This is weird. Shouldn't Democrats approve with more than 90% right now so close after the election ? Do you think this is an outlier poll ?

[Eugene in Oregon]

Serious question: Any notion why Republicans would -- in relative terms -- view Gen. Petraeus less favorably than Democrats? Is it because of the acknowledged extra-marital affair? Or because he accepted a job in the Obama administration? Probably not Petraeus' refusal to accept the Ailes/Fox offer to bankroll a presidential bid, as that only surfaced after your poll was taken, right?

[Mike Redding]

Panetta's OK, but I never trusted Burns.

[Ignatzz]

The ACORN thing was foolish, but why did you pose it as an either/or? "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election this year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" ACORN no longer exists. Why did you give respondents only those two choices?

[Al]

How about poll of Democrats and progressives on support for the Republicans to secede?

[pbrower2a]

25% of the electorate lives under the paranoid delusion that Barack Obama is President through electoral fraud. Sickening!

[Michael Hansen]

In fact ACORN does exist is the main reason us republicans feel this way. Because in fact they DID steal the election, nevertheless, interesting GA Senate GOP primary results.

[Peter Principle]

As I recall, Panetta Burns woukd shut down all U.S. government programs except for the Defense Department, the CIA, federal water projects, and livestock support payments.

So what's not to like?

[John Mack]

To their reasoning, God, not the people, chooses the President, and God would not choose a Democrat, especially Obama, and therefore the election must have been stolen. Thisd is called a priori reasoning and it is the basis of most anti-scientific religious views.

[John Williams]

Help me understand this. 25% of Republicans want to secede from the United States following a loss. It strikes me as unpatriotic, weak, and pathetic. Where's the strength and big-heartedness that built our country?

[berick]

Am I admitting to a weak mind when I instantly assumed that Panetta/Burns meant Leon Panetta and Charles Montgomery Burns?

[donald weitzel]

Maybe next time u wont totally beloved the poles they lied to u g.o.p needs to face the facts u lost & teaparty is lossing grounds GOD does answers prayers HIgh tea is over thank u

[Nick D]

I'm so sick of having to legitimize every crackpot.

Are we expected to go and talk down the guy on the corner screaming at himself about aliens stealing his brain?

These Republicans are the political equivalent; get them help, keep them from
Buying AK-47's and grenades, but don't entertain their hallucinations as some sort of legitimate discourse.

Clinton 2016!

[The Magic M]

> Help me understand this. 25% of Republicans want to secede from the United States following a loss. It strikes me as unpatriotic, weak, and pathetic.

Well, that's 25% of 32% (GOP self-identifed) of 55% (actual voters, est.) of 66% (eligible voters, rougly) of the population.

Which resolves to 2.9% of the entire population. The number of people who believe Earth is 6,000 years old or that we didn't land on the moon is much higher. So nothing to worry if we have less than 3% patriotic Americans. :)

[sinz54]

I read a lot of conservative blogs.

The conservatives have swung sharply against Petraeus, because they regard what Petraeus did as a betrayal of the soldiers under his command.

Many of those conservatives are veterans themselves, and say that they couldn't have respect for a commanding officer who behaved as Petraeus did: The soldiers are risking life and limb while Petraeus is employing other parts of his anatomy altogether.

[Shaun R.]

@ John Mack: Did you know that mathematics is also a form of a priori reasoning? By your statements, mathematics falls into the category of "the basis of anti-scientific religious views". This seems odd. Also, I am curious as to what you understand "scientific" to be, given that the definition is debated even amongst scientists and philosophers of science.

[Ron Powell]

@Michael Hansen: Please do a bit of research before posting something that the well informed world will know is false. Google "Acorn is dissolved" and you will find more information than you want from reliable sources that ACORN is no more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now

Apply Occam's Razor: Obama won because he got more votes than Romney did in the states that count. Any other explanation is simple refusing to accept reality because reality does not conform with what one expected/wanted to happen regarding the outcome of the election.

[Todd Dugdale]

I would like to see an ideological cross-tab on Party ID in future national polling.
How many self-identified Republicans consider themselves to be "very conservative", for example. Independents seem to be more conservative than "moderates" on issues, but it would be revealing to get some confirmation.

Also, I'm glad to see the polling on "Panetta/Burns". I've often suspected that a significant share of those with opinions on subjects actually have no idea what they are responding to.

[Joel]

Bowles/Simpson also doesn't exist. The committee never made a recommendation.

[lola]

LOL Sour grapes.

[Robert]

I think your poll shows (as one might expect) that people like bacon, but disapprove when their Pancetta Burns.

[Gar]

The Panetta/Burns red herring question is a great idea and should be applied more often to help differentiate the informed people polled from the uninformed people polled.

[John Kilcoyne]

"The conservatives have swung sharply against Petraeus, because they regard what Petraeus did as a betrayal of the soldiers under his command."

I would ask vetrerans if they really knwo veterans than, because there's as much "cheating" going on there than anywhere. If conservative veterans can't respect leaders that have cheated than I'm wondering if there are any leaders in the military except for a narrow few, that fall into that category. What a ridiculous thing to think.

[CDM]

It would be a VERY intersting econometric modeling experiment to see how quickly an ultra-conservative state's economy would collapse in the event of secession, utilizing the mechanics and methodologies of "trickle down" economics, monetary and fiscal policies and corporate expansion directives that may (though most likely would NOT) inspire, especially without the federally funded 'entitlement' programs those same conservatives are always labeling as productivity disincentives, pork or otherwise overfunded or unnecessary.

[Trey]

It would be such a joy to watch these secede. I would go broke buying one-way tickets for these hate-filled morons. Red states are like a siphon on the American economy. The worst educated states are in the South. The unhealthiest states are in the South. The poorest states are in the South, they need federal dollars just to OPERATE and yet they hate the federal govt. Please let them have their whites-only country..GO GO GO!

[MoreEveryDay]

When Obama said that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon, I found that disgusting coming from a sitting president regarding an ongoing court case. And when all the news stations continued to show little baby Trayvon's angelic junior high picture for a week, when more current "gangsta" pics were available, that's when I stopped watching TV. When your television, movies, universities, boardrooms and Congress are being orchestrated by one small group, your country has become a puppet for hidden masters. If you want to know who your masters are, they are those whom you may not criticize. Whether your politics veer to the right or left, if you truly believe that all peoples have intrinsic human dignity, then stand up the next time you hear someone openly trash white people. You may find to your surprise that you will not be popular, but it is the right thing to do. Let's put an end to the extremely anti-white atmosphere that has been allowed to fester in the nation, or else let us go to war.

[Kaidog]

Shame on you for the ACORN question. I'm an independent and a PhD social scientist, not a Republican, so I'm not taking issue with the 'finding.' I take issue with your methodology: the question was badly phrased, consisting of two separate issues (election fraud, mythical culprit) couched in leading language, with a binary response mode. This is a setup and it's utter junk. Shame on you.

[Sarah]

I'd love to see a poll on how many "progressives" believe the government can erase the national debt by printing more money. I'd wager the number would be insanely high.

[Terry Cooper]

Acorn does exist, just under a different name.