Monday, May 20, 2013

CNN Poll: Despite the Political Profligacy of the Obama Administration, His Approval Rating Increases from 51% Last Week to 53% This Week... Or Did It?

The liberal mass media -- the one that the Obama administration is oppressing -- still has not learned its lesson about not trusting the government.  Take for instance the current CNN Poll regarding the president's approval rating.  This is very interesting:

May 19, 2013 12 hours ago

9 hours ago


CNN Poll: Controversies hurting Obama? Has GOP overreacted?

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady, according to a new national poll.
But a CNN/ORC International survey released Sunday morning also indicates that congressional Republicans are not overplaying their hand when it comes to their reaction to the three controversies that have consumed the nation's capital over the past week and a half. And the poll finds that a majority of Americans take all three issues seriously.


According to the survey, which was conducted Friday and Saturday, 53% of Americans say they approve of the job the president is doing, with 45% saying they disapprove. The president's approval rating was at 51% in CNN's last poll, which was conducted in early April.
"That two-point difference is well within the poll's sampling error, so it is a mistake to characterize it as a gain for the president," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Nonetheless, an approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50% will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week."
The CNN poll is in-line with Gallup, which also indicated a very slight rise in Obama's approval rating over the same time period. And Gallup's daily tracking poll also indicated a slight upward movement of Obama's approval rating over the past week. But as with the CNN poll, it was within that survey's sampling error.
More than seven in 10 in the CNN poll say that the targeting by the Internal Revenue Service of tea party and other conservative groups that were applying for tax exempt status was unacceptable. While the White House and both parties in Congress are criticizing the IRS actions, congressional Republicans are depicting the controversy as a case of the federal government gone wild.
But more than six in 10 say that the president's statements about the IRS scandal are completely or mostly true, with 35% not agreeing with Obama's characterizations. And 55% say that IRS acted on its own, with 37% saying that White House ordered the IRS to target tea party and other conservative groups.
Only 42% of the public is satisfied with how the Obama administration has handled the September attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left the U.S ambassador to that country and three other Americans dead. Fifty-three percent say they are dissatisfied. But those numbers are virtually unchanged from November.
Republicans have ripped the administration for not providing adequate security for the Benghazi mission, botching the response to it, and misleading the public for political gain with the attack coming less than two months before last November's presidential election.
According to the poll, 44% say statements made by the Obama administration soon after the attack were an attempt to intentionally mislead the public. Half of those questioned say those statements reflected what the Obama administration believed, at the time, had occurred.
But 59% now say that the U.S government could have prevented the attack in Benghazi, up 11 points from last November. And only 37% say that congressional Republicans are overreacting in their handling of the matter, with 59% saying they've reacted appropriately.
It's the same story on the IRS controversy, with 54% saying the GOP in Congress has not overplayed its hand.
The White House has also been criticized by Congress for the Justice Department's secret collection of phone records from the Associated Press as part of a government investigation into classified leaks. According to the poll, 52% say the Justice Department's actions were unacceptable, with 43% saying they disagree.
Americans appear to be taking all three controversies very seriously, with 55% saying the IRS and Benghazi matters are very important to the nation and 53% saying the same thing about the AP case.
"More Republicans than Democrats or Independents say these three issues are very important to the nation, but even among Democrats, nearly half say the matters are very serious," Holland adds.
Are Americans’ trust in the government shaken?
Only 43% say they have a great deal or some confidence in the people who run the federal government. But 56% say they have a great deal or some confidence in the system of government.
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International between May 17-18, with 923 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
– CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Filed under: CNN/ORC International poll • IRS • Libya • Polls • President Obama

*** 
However, I can take to heart that this is CNN who is reporting this.  CNN is a voice box for Ted Turner, who is a known liberal.  What do the other polls have to say about the president's approval rating?



 (Courtesy of Gallup)

Week of May 13-19:

Approve: 49% (-1%); Disapprove: 44% (+1%)

Polling Data

PollDateSampleApproveDisapproveSpread
RCP Average5/9 - 5/19--48.746.8+1.9
Gallup5/17 - 5/191500 A4944+5
Rasmussen Reports5/17 - 5/191500 LV4850-2
CNN/Opinion Research5/17 - 5/18923 A5345+8
Reuters/Ipsos5/10 - 5/141215 A4549-4
The Economist/YouGov5/11 - 5/13661 RV4750-3
Reason-Rupe/PSRAI5/9 - 5/131003 A5043+7
Reuters/Ipsos5/3 - 5/71589 A4547-2
The Economist/YouGov5/4 - 5/6704 RV4949Tie
Pew Research5/1 - 5/51504 A5143+8
Reuters/Ipsos4/25 - 5/1943 A4849-1
The Economist/YouGov4/27 - 4/29638 RV5048+2
Quinnipiac4/25 - 4/291471 RV4845+3
CBS News/NY Times4/24 - 4/28965 A4745+2
FOX News4/20 - 4/221009 RV4745+2
Associated Press/GfK4/11 - 4/151004 A5047+3
ABC News/Wash Post4/11 - 4/14RV4749-2
National Journal4/5 - 4/91000 A4649-3
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl4/5 - 4/81000 A4748-1
CNN/Opinion Research4/5 - 4/71012 A5147+4
Quinnipiac3/26 - 4/11711 RV4945+4
McClatchy/Marist3/25 - 3/271061 RV5046+4
CBS News3/20 - 3/241181 A4546-1
FOX News3/17 - 3/191002 RV4747Tie
CNN/Opinion Research3/15 - 3/171021 A4750-3
Pew Research3/13 - 3/171501 A4746+1
Democracy Corps (D)3/9 - 3/12840 LV4849-1
ABC News/Wash Post3/7 - 3/10RV5146+5
McClatchy/Marist3/4 - 3/71068 RV4548-3
Quinnipiac2/27 - 3/41944 RV4546-1
FOX News2/25 - 2/271010 RV4647-1
Reason-Rupe/PSRAI2/21 - 2/251002 A5143+8
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl2/21 - 2/241000 A5045+5
Bloomberg2/15 - 2/181003 A5540+15
USA Today/Pew Research2/13 - 2/181504 A5141+10
CBS News2/6 - 2/101148 A5238+14
FOX News2/4 - 2/61010 RV4945+4
Quinnipiac1/30 - 2/41772 RV4645+1
Reason-Rupe/PSRAI1/17 - 1/211000 A5242+10
FOX News1/15 - 1/171008 RV4747Tie
CNN/Time1/14 - 1/15814 A5543+12
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl1/12 - 1/151000 A5244+8
CBS News/NY Times1/11 - 1/151110 A5141+10
Democracy Corps (D)1/10 - 1/14852 LV5345+8
Associated Press/GfK1/10 - 1/141004 A5442+12
ABC News/Wash Post1/10 - 1/13RV5343+10
Pew Research1/9 - 1/131502 A5240+12
CNN/Opinion Research12/17 - 12/18RV5045+5
ABC News/Wash Post12/13 - 12/16RV5542+13
CBS News12/12 - 12/161179 A5737+20
FOX News12/9 - 12/111012 RV4846+2
Bloomberg12/7 - 12/101000 A5344+9
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl12/6 - 12/91000 A5343+10
Pew Research12/5 - 12/91503 A5539+16
McClatchy/Marist12/4 - 12/61091 RV5044+6
Politico/GWU/Battleground12/2 - 12/61000 LV5047+3
Associated Press/GfK11/29 - 12/31002 A5741+16
Quinnipiac11/28 - 12/31949 RV5340+13
National Journal11/25 - 12/11000 A5442+12
CNN/Opinion Research11/16 - 11/18RV5245+7
Politico/GWU/Battleground11/4 - 11/51000 LV4949Tie
CNN/Opinion Research11/2 - 11/4918 RV5147+4
ABC News/Wash Post11/1 - 11/42345 LV5148+3
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl11/1 - 11/31475 LV4949Tie
Politico/GWU/Battleground10/29 - 11/11000 LV4949Tie
FOX News10/28 - 10/301128 LV5047+3
CBS News/NY Times10/25 - 10/28898 A5042+8
NPR10/23 - 10/251000 LV4949Tie
Politico/GWU/Battleground10/22 - 10/251000 LV5049+1
Associated Press/GfK10/19 - 10/23839 LV4949Tie
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl10/17 - 10/201000 RV4948+1
CBS News10/17 - 10/201383 A4942+7
Politico/GWU/Battleground10/15 - 10/181000 LV4948+1
ABC News/Wash Post10/10 - 10/13923 LV5048+2
Politico/GWU/Battleground10/7 - 10/111000 LV5048+2
FOX News10/7 - 10/91109 LV4948+1




Republicans and Libertarians need not worry so much.  I have only seen a handful of polls online that have the president's approval rating above 50%.  The Gallup Poll, as I showed up above, shows the president's approval rating down one point from last week.  I would like to believe the reason his approval rating has only fallen by one point is because the American people are still of the mindset of a person being guilty until proven innocent.  Still, the fact that some of these polls that have the president not only above 50% but significantly so have surveyed their samples in large liberal areas of the nation's population.  Gallup is generally an independent polling service, the service that has been in use for decades in presenting the American people with a sitting president's approval rating.  This president is so divisive that no two polls can agree, and I have to believe that the sample from which CNN/Opinion Research performed its survey study came in a largely liberal area, even if these members of the Left are uniting behind their president in these areas.  It is amazing how low this approval rating really is when one considers that fact.


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