public opinion polls

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that 26 percent of Democrats support the repeal of President Obama’s centerpiece legislation — which, of course, was a purely Democratic endeavor that passed without a single Republican vote. Moreover, the poll shows that most of these repeal-supporting Democrats are “strongly” supportive of repeal.

On Wednesday I argued that only a tiny swath of the actual electorate – maybe 10 percent – will be up for grabs in November. Today, I want to answer the obvious follow-up question: what are these voters thinking?

Americans don’t look to be inclined to rely on the Supreme Court to determine the future of Obamacare. For the 30th consecutive time, Rasmussen’s polling of likely voters shows that Americans not only support the repeal of President Obama’s centerpiece legislation but support it by double-digits.

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters offers a bit of good news and bit of bad news for Mitt Romney.  The poll shows that President Obama and Romney are now tied, at 42 percent support apiece. But among independents, the group that’s most likely to swing the next election, Obama now enjoys a 6-point edge (39 to 33 percent). Romney achieved a tie in the overall tally by faring better among Democrats (12 percent of whom favor Romney) than Obama did among Republicans (8 percent of whom favor Obama).

The latest CBS/New York Times GOP presidential preference poll has Herman Cain at 25 percent, Mitt Romney 21, Newt Gingrich 10, Ron Paul 8, Rick Perry 6, Michele Bachmann 2, Jon Huntsman 1, and Rick Santorum 1. A quarter of respondents failed to choose any of the announced candidates.

According to Gallup's daily tracking poll, President Obama's disapproval rating has risen to 51 percent, while his approval rating hovers near his all-time low, at 41. The graph below shows the trends for the president's approval and disapproval over the last month:

As of today, President Obama’s approval rating is only 42 percent in Gallup, while Rasmussen’s Presidential Approval Index shows that only 23 percent of likely voters “strongly approve” of Obama’s performance as president, compared to 44 percent who “strongly disapprove” — matching the highest “strongly disapprove” tally in Rasmussen’s index since November. In other words, the debt ceiling debate doesn’t seem to be doing Obama any favors.

On Fox News Sunday, the boss observed that "There is no empirical evidence [the debt ceiling debate is] helping the president, you know? If you look at the different polls, Gallup, Rasmussen, etc cetera. The president's approval rating has drifted down over the last two, three, four weeks...

Rasmussen's latest poll shows that "Most voters still believe President Obama is more liberal than they are, while just one-out-of-four say they share the same ideological views as the president."

A recent AP/GfK poll has been getting a lot of attention for allegedly showing that Americans think the federal budget can be balanced without cutting Medicare spending. The poll’s sample, however, includes 35 percent Democrats and only 18 percent Republicans (and 46 percent Democrats and 29 percent Republicans when including leaners).  That’s hardly a representative sampling of Americans.

Earlier this year, Fox News switched its polling firm from Opinion Dynamics to Anderson Robbins Research (D)/Shaw and Company Research (R), a joint bipartisan collaboration.

Likely voters’ responses to two questions in a recent Rasmussen poll highlight both the challenge that Paul Ryan and the House Republicans face in persuading Americans to support their proposed budget, and why it’s likely that they will ultimately prevail.