by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 1/19/2010 08:27:00 AM
I wanted to get up at least one look at Obama's first year before it becomes completely entangled in the Brown/Coakley race fallout. I have to admit, I'm surprised at the damage done to Obama's presidency over the past year. The Republicans were unrelenting in their attacks. But, the White House brain trust didn't do the President any favors. Remember how Obama kept saying he wanted health care reform done by August? Yet, his staff, led by Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina, kept letting Max Baucus drag out the process last summer with those useless meetings by the "Gang of Six." It's January and there's no final bill. Let's just say, a lot of us expected a lot more from President Obama.
This is from CBS:
Mr. Obama's job approval rating is now 50 percent, up from last week's all-time low of 46 percent. When he took office a year ago, 62 percent approved.
The recent four-point rise in Mr. Obama's overall job approval rating may reflect the widespread approval of his handling of the U.S. response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti last week; 80 percent approve, and just 8 percent disapprove. Majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents approve on this measure.
But when it comes to overall approval, the president has maintained his early high approval ratings only among Democrats (four in five approve). Only four in 10 independents and a quarter of Republicans now approve. A year ago, 56 percent of independents approved of the job President Obama was doing, as did 36 percent of Republicans.
At 50 percent, Mr. Obama's approval rating is similar to that of Presidents Ronald Reagan (49 percent), Jimmy Carter (51 percent) and Bill Clinton (54 percent) one year into their presidencies. All were plagued by economic troubles – and Mr.
Clinton also attempted to reform health care.
One of the worst results in this poll has to do with banks:
Forty-nine percent say the president has done too much for the banks, and 37 percent think he's done too much for U.S. auto makers. At the same time, 54 percent say he's done too little for the middle class, six in 10 think he's done too little for small businesses and a plurality says he's done too little for homeowners.
A lot of Americans see the banks as big winners in the first year of the Obama administration. All the news about bonuses reinforces that perception. Now, the GOP left the economic mess. But, Obama's economic team appeared to have abetted the banks instead of reining them in.
We can expect more of these polls and much more discussion of Obama's first year for the rest of the week. What happens today in Massachusetts will shape that discussion.
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Source:http://www.americablog.com/2010/01/after-one-year-obamas-approval-at-50.html
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