Polls: Liberals steady in Obama support, everyone in DC looks worse to public

Gallup, week of July 25-31

From Gallup this afternoon:

Most of the week's news headlines focused on failed plans and recriminatory accusations, although by Sunday, congressional leaders and the president announced the outline of a negotiated agreement. Twice last week, Obama's three-day rolling approval average reached 40%, the lowest such average of his administration. By the end of the weekend, his three-day average had rebounded slightly to 43%.

A number of reporters and columnists have speculated on how Obama's role in the agreement will affect his support within his liberal base. A New York Times online story over the weekend declared, "Outcry From the Left Precedes Debt Deal," while Times columnist Paul Krugman, in a Monday morning column headlined, "The President Surrenders," accused Obama of "folding" in the face of Republican threats. The website Politico carried a story on Monday morning headlined: "Debt deal complicates liberals' support."

Yet the data show that Obama's support from his liberal base remains as high relative to his overall average as it has throughout his term. Specifically, liberals' approval of Obama last week was 72%, 30 points higher than his overall approval rating of 42%. By comparison, liberals' approval has averaged about 28 points higher than his overall average so far in the Obama administration.

From WaPo/Pew (the same poll as this word cloud):

On the other side of the aisle, the fiercest intra-party criticism of Obama has been from liberals, but in the new poll, moderate and conservative Democrats are three times as likely as are liberal Democrats to say their opinion of Obama has deteriorated over the past few weeks. Just 7 percent of liberal Democrats say so; most, 55 percent, say their opinions are unchanged, and 37 percent say they are now more favorable.

In that poll, everyone takes a hit from the public, though the president and Democrats take the smaller hit. Interestingly, indies whack Boehner pretty hard and give tea party R's a bit of a break (a reminder that independents are not moderates).

WaPo/Pew 8/1/11

We need to see similar numbers from after the deal is sealed. But as of now, the debt deal is not hurting Obama with self-described liberals as much as some of the pundits suggest.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/sHEdOqS8qD8/-Polls:-Liberals-steady-in-Obama-support,-everyone-in-DC-looks-worse-to-public

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