Obama's Approval at 62%; Government Less Popular

(NEWSER) - If Barack Obama is lucky, and the predictions of most economists indicate he will be, the US economy will emerge from recession long before the populace expects it to, Nate Silver writes on FiveThirtyEight. And “it will be quite some time yet before the public pins most of the blame for the economy on Obama,” Silver writes. 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»

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»

Prez lauded on foreign policy, economy, but not from GOP voters

(NEWSER) - President Obama's approval ratings are at the highest since he took office, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll. Of those surveyed, 66% approve of how Obama is handling the job, up two points from last month, and 67% said they believed world leaders respected the US president, up from just 30% when the question was asked in 2006. More»