Woes Won't Sour Obama Numbers ... Yet

(NEWSER) - Though opinions of the government vary, most Americans continue to have a favorable view of President Obama, Fox News reports. In a new poll, 62% of respondents approve of the job Obama is doing; 31% disapprove. 64% like the president as a person. But on the administration’s takeover of General Motors and handling of the economy, the country divides along party lines. More»

Americans sour on handling of economy, Afghanistan

(NEWSER) - Less than half of Americans polled approve of President Obama’s performance for the first time. A new Quinnipiac survey has his job approval rating at 48%, with 42% disapproving. Other polls have his rating at 53% and 56%, and a Quinnipiac pollster admits the new number “is not statistically different" from his 50% approval rating in October. "Nevertheless,” he tells Politics Daily , “in politics symbols matter.” More»

Republican Party lacks opposition bump usually accompanying hard times

(NEWSER) - Americans are bummed about the economy, but that hasn’t given Republicans the usual opposition party boost in Washington . “The mood in America may be blue, but attitudes toward Washington are just jet black,” a pollster tells the Wall Street Journal . Some 58% of respondents think the economy will continue to fester, up from 52% last month. But folks would still rather have the Dems in control after midterms, 46% to 38%; those numbers were 43% to 40% in September. More»

Support for public option also grows; GOP isn't more popular, though

(NEWSER) - New poll numbers out today hold good news and bad for the Obama administration. Support is rising for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds, and nearly half now favor a public option in the health-care reform measures now under consideration. The bad news: 58% said the economy is still in the tank, a 6% increase from September. More»

Poll numbers plummeted amid Sotomayor, Gates controversies

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.” More»