Raleigh, N.C. – PPP’s newest national poll finds the overall political climate improving slightly for Democrats over the last month: Barack Obama’s approval ratings have ticked up a little bit, the Obamacare rollout is getting better reviews, and the party’s retaken the lead on the generic Congressional ballot.

Barack Obama’s approval rating stands at 43/51 this month, the best it’s been since a 46/50 standing in October. He’s improved a net 6 points after hitting a record low in PPP’s polling in December at 41/55. Nevertheless Obama still has big problems with independents, coming in at 30/62 with them.

Perceptions of the Obamacare rollout are still negative, but they’re at least improving. In late January only 32% of voters said they felt the rollout had been successful, compared to 62% who rated it unsuccessful. Now 39% say they think the rollout’s been a success to 56% who give it low marks. Overall 39% of voters support the Affordable Care Act to 48% who are opposed, numbers pretty much consistent with what we’ve found since 2009.

Democrats have reclaimed the lead on the generic Congressional ballot, 43/40, after trailing 42/40 on it in January. Congressional Democrats have poor approval numbers, at a 35/56 spread, but that puts them far ahead of Congressional Republicans who come in at 23/67. One key difference is that Democrats are at least happy with their own party in Congress, giving it a 66/21 approval, while Republicans give their own a negative assessment at 43/48.

“Things still aren’t great for Democrats,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But they’re better than they’ve been since the government shutdown.”

The minimum wage issue continues to play out well for Democrats. 56% of voters support increasing it to $10 an hour, compared to only 38% opposed. We’ve also found support for this everywhere that we’ve polled on the state level. Democrats (83/12) almost unanimously favor the increase, and 29% of Republicans do as well.

PPP surveyed 1,152 registered voters from March 6th to 9th. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.9%. 80% of interviews for the poll were conducted over the phone with 20% interviewed over the internet to reach respondents who don’t have landline telephones.

Topline results are below.  Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of President
Barack Obama’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 43%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 51%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 6%

Q2 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congressional Democrats are doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 35%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 56%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%

Q3 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congressional Republicans are doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 23%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 67%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 10%

Q4 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congress overall is doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 8%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 84%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 8%

Q5 Do you approve or disapprove of the job your
own member of Congress is doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 39%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 45%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 17%

Q6 If there was an election for the U.S. House
today, would you vote for the Democratic or
Republican candidate from your district?
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 43%
Republican……………………………………………… 40%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 17%

Q7 Do you approve or disapprove of the Affordable
Care Act?
Approve …………………………………………………. 39%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 48%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 12%

Q8 Do you think the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act so far has been very
successful, somewhat successful, somewhat
unsuccessful, very unsuccessful, or are you
not sure?
Very successful……………………………………….. 11%
Somewhat successful ………………………………. 28%
Somewhat unsuccessful …………………………… 16%
Very unsuccessful……………………………………. 40%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 5%

Q9 Would you support or oppose raising the
minimum wage to $10 an hour?
Support ………………………………………………….. 56%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 38%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 7%

Q10 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of the Koch brothers?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 17%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 36%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 47%

Q11 Do you agree or disagree with the selection of
’12 Years a Slave’ as Best Picture in this year’s
Oscars?
Agree …………………………………………………….. 32%
Disagree ………………………………………………… 16%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 52%

Q12 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 49%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 42%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 9%

Q13 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 13%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 18%
Moderate………………………………………………… 29%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 23%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 18%

Q14 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 53%
Man……………………………………………………….. 47%

Q15 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 41%
Republican……………………………………………… 34%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 26%

Q16 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 9%
White …………………………………………………….. 73%
African-American …………………………………….. 12%
Other……………………………………………………… 6%

Q17 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 12%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 23%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 42%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 23%

Q18 Mode
Phone ……………………………………………………. 80%
Internet ………………………………………………….. 20%