A year that began with President Barack Obama riding high after his re-election victory is ending with him in the biggest hole of his presidency. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that more Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance than ever before; half say they’re either disappointed […] Read more »
Obama Job Rating Regains Some Ground, But 2013 Has Taken a Toll
For the first time since last spring, Barack Obama’s steadily declining job rating has shown a modest improvement. And while his signature legislative accomplishment – the 2010 health care law – remains unpopular, Obama engenders much more public confidence on health care policy than do Republican leaders in Congress. CONT. […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Continues Its Recovery
Americans’ confidence in the economy is still slowly recovering from its government shutdown-induced plunge. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index averaged -22 last week, significantly improved from -39 during the second week of the federal government shutdown in October but below the -15 found in mid-September. Still, confidence has a long way […] Read more »
In 2014, the economy may matter more than Obamacare
… Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who is running surveys in multiple contested Senate races, tells me his polling suggests that, whatever the very real dissatisfaction with the health law, the GOP push to repeal the law remains a minority position, and that the Dem message of “fix and improve” continues […] Read more »
68% of Americans expect no budget deal by shutdown deadline
A Congressional budget deal expected this week might not be a grand bargain to solve the country’s long term fiscal woes, but it is largely what Americans want, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll. The likely deal would ease the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, with more defense […] Read more »
The Economy in Red and Blue
As economic indicators and holiday shopping numbers trickle out at the year’s end, it’s good to remember that the economy is about more than data points like GDP and unemployment. There’s also personal circumstances and psychology: what people think about their economic situations and prospects. And, like most everything else, […] Read more »