President Obama's disapproval index has fallen to single digits after spending months in double digit territory. The percentage of voters who strongly approve of the president has risen 10 points in the last 7 days, while the percentage of those who strongly disapprove has dropped 2 points. This computes to a -4 Approval Index according to Rasmussen.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 35% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. That’s the highest level of strong approval for the President in more than seven months and reflects a significant bounce following the State-of-the-Union address. Before the speech, just 27% voiced strong approval.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) now Strongly Disapprove down from 42% before the speech. Putting it all together gives Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -4. That’s the President’s best Approval Index rating in months.
Although this significant bounce does follow the State of the Union address, I'd be willing to bet it is a chronological relationship rather than a causal one. I suspect the real cause of Obama's jump in voter approval was accepting the invitation from House Republicans to speak at their retreat. It can't have hurt that he appeared to listen, as well. After all, he campaigned as the post-partisan candidate. Too bad it wasn't until Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts took away his filibuster-proof majority that he thought about living up to those promises.
And who, exactly, decided to define the event as "Republican Retreat" instead of saaaaay...Caucus?
Posted by: CaptDMO | February 03, 2010 at 07:11 AM