American public opinion changed in significant ways over the course of Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, including on issues such as the economy, race relations, and the level of confidence the public has in different aspects or actors in the government. Many of these changes were the […] Read more »
Obama Job Approval Ratings Most Politically Polarized by Far
Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama averaged 83% job approval among Democrats and 13% among Republicans. That 70-percentage-point party gap in job approval ratings easily eclipses the prior high — 61 points for George W. Bush. All other presidents had party gaps of 55 points or less. CONT. Jeffrey M. Jones, […] Read more »
How President Trump Can Avoid President Obama’s Biggest Mistake
… The biggest mistake of Obama’s presidency was punting health care “reform” to Congress. While he wanted to remain postpartisan after a historic campaign and stay out of the fight, Democrats on Capitol Hill argued over the specifics and took more than a year to get something to his desk. […] Read more »
President Obama Leaves Office with High Worldwide Approval Ratings – But Global Expectations for Trump Are More Pessimistic
… Obama leaves his office with high worldwide approval ratings – nearly all countries rate him positively, with an average of 76% saying he has been a good president of the USA. … Russia stands out as the only country with an overwhelming negative opinion (87% think he was a […] Read more »
Obama Averages 47.9% Job Approval as President
Barack Obama finished his tenure as president with a 47.9% average job approval rating. He ranks below eight presidents and ahead of only three — Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman — in Gallup’s polling history. … His final job approval rating, based on Jan. 17-19 Gallup Daily tracking, […] Read more »
6 things we’ve learned since the 2016 election
It has been a tumultuous 10 weeks since Donald Trump won his stunning election victory, and on Friday he will be inaugurated as the nation’s 45th president. Here are six important findings from our U.S. political surveys since the election. CONT. Carroll Doherty, Pew Read more »