Polls

Obama approval at record low, but Dems lead House ballot

| Tom Jensen

Header-poll-results
Raleigh, N.C. –
PPP’s newest national poll finds Democrats leading the generic Congressional ballot 43/40. That 3 point lead is down just slightly from the 5 point one they had at 46/41 during the height of the government shutdown in October. Congressional Democrats (-25 at 35/60) have a net approval rating 19 points better than their Republican counterparts (-44 at 25/69) although both parties remain quite unpopular.

Americans narrowly support the budget deal that was passed in the House last week, 37/30. 33% of voters with no opinion one way or the other may serve as a reality check on how closely a lot of voters are following this. Democrats support the deal by a pretty wide margin (45/23) but Republicans oppose it 29/33, which may help explain why so many facing Senate primaries next year have voted against it. One aspect of the deal that’s not popular is ending extended unemployment benefits for 1.5 million workers on December 28th- just 35% of voters support that happening to 50% who are opposed.

Congress has just a 7% approval rating, with 85% of voters disapproving of it. But when it comes to voters’ own Representatives their feelings are a lot more mixed- 41% approve of the job their member is doing to 44% who disapprove.

Barack Obama has only a 41% approval rating with 55% of voters disapproving of him, the weakest numbers we’ve found for him in his entire time in office. With independents he’s at just a 27/69 approval spread. 63% of voters think the rollout of the Affordable Care Act has been unsuccessful to just 33% that label it a success. Overall 37% of voters say they support the ACA to 54% who disapprove of it. Americans are closely split on whether the ACA (46%) or the government shutdown in October (43%) has been worse for the country.

“The fact that Barack Obama’s approval numbers are at a record low but Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot in the same poll shows how much anger there is to go around among voters right now,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “They don’t like the President but they don’t want to vote GOP either because they dislike Congressional Republicans so much.”

PPP surveyed 1,316 registered voters from December 12th to 15th. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.7%. PPP’s surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews.

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 …………………………………………………. 41%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 55%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 4%

Q2 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congressional Democrats are doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 35%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 60%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 5%

Q3 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congressional Republicans are doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 25%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 69%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 7%

Q4 Do you approve or disapprove of the job
Congress overall is doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 7%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 85%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 7%

Q5 Do you approve or disapprove of the job your
own member of Congress is doing?
Approve …………………………………………………. 41%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 44%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 15%

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 support or oppose the $85 billion
budget deal agreed to by Paul Ryan and Patty
Murray this week?
Support ………………………………………………….. 37%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 30%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 33%

Q8 Would you support or oppose another
government shutdown next year?
Support ………………………………………………….. 25%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 67%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 8%

Q9 Do you approve or disapprove of the Affordable
Care Act?
Approve …………………………………………………. 37%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 54%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 9%

Q10 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……………………………………….. 8%
Somewhat successful ………………………………. 25%
Somewhat unsuccessful …………………………… 17%
Very unsuccessful……………………………………. 46%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 4%

Q11 Which do you think has had a more negative
impact on the country: the federal government
shutdown or the Affordable Care Act?
The shutdown …………………………………………. 43%
The Affordable Care Act……………………………. 46%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%

Q12 Do you support or oppose allowing 1.3 million
workers to lose extended unemployment
benefits on December 28th?
Support ………………………………………………….. 35%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 50%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 15%

Q13 Would you support or oppose raising the
minimum wage to $10 an hour?
Support ………………………………………………….. 56%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 38%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 6%

Q14 Who do you think is more deserving of being
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2013:
Pope Francis or Edward Snowden?
Pope Francis…………………………………………… 64%
Edward Snowden…………………………………….. 10%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 26%

Q15 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 46%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 45%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 9%

Q16 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 9%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 20%
Moderate………………………………………………… 30%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 24%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 16%

Q17 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 53%
Man……………………………………………………….. 47%

Q18 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 ……………………………………………….. 40%
Republican……………………………………………… 34%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 26%

Q19 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 9%
White …………………………………………………….. 74%
African-American …………………………………….. 12%
Other……………………………………………………… 5%

Q20 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………………………………………………….. 28%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 37%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 23%

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