Poll Watch: Politico/GWU Battleground 2010 Survey

Politico/GWU Battleground 2010 Survey

How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as President? Do you approve or disapprove of the job he is doing?

• Strongly approve 35%
• Approve 11%
• Disapprove 6%
• Strongly disapprove 45%

Whether you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as President, what is your impression of Barack Obama as a person? Do you approve or disapprove of him?

• Strongly approve 47%
• Approve 18%
• Disapprove 6%
• Strongly disapprove 19%

As you may already heard, there are likely to be several candidates and organizations that should have a prominent role in 2012 elections. I would like to read you the names of several of these people or organizations. For each one, please tell me whether you have heard of that person or organization and if so, whether you have a favorable or an unfavorable impression of that person or organization. If you do not recognize the name, just say so.

Mike Huckabee

• Strongly favorable 23%
• Somewhat favorable 26%
• Somewhat unfavorable 11%
• Strongly unfavorable 14%
• No opinion 15%
• Never heard of 12%

Mitt Romney

• Strongly favorable 16%
• Somewhat favorable 29%
• Somewhat unfavorable 13%
• Strongly unfavorable 15%
• No opinion 12%
• Never heard of 15%

Newt Gingrich

• Strongly favorable 17%
• Somewhat favorable 22%
• Somewhat unfavorable 10%
• Strongly unfavorable 29%
• No opinion 13%
• Never heard of 9%

Sarah Palin

• Strongly favorable 22%
• Somewhat favorable 22%
• Somewhat unfavorable 10%
• Strongly unfavorable 39%
• No opinion 5%
• Never heard of 2%

Tim Pawlenty

• Strongly favorable 5%
• Somewhat favorable 9%
• Somewhat unfavorable 6%
• Strongly unfavorable 4%
• No opinion 13%
• Never heard of 64%

Haley Barbour

• Strongly favorable 4%
• Somewhat favorable 8%
• Somewhat unfavorable 5%
• Strongly unfavorable 5%
• No opinion 16%
• Never heard of 62%

Mitch Daniels

• Strongly favorable 3%
• Somewhat favorable 5%
• Somewhat unfavorable 3%
• Strongly unfavorable 3%
• No opinion 13%
• Never heard of 75%

John Thune

• Strongly favorable 3%
• Somewhat favorable 4%
• Somewhat unfavorable 1%
• Strongly unfavorable 2%
• No opinion 9%
• Never heard of 81%

Tea Party Movement

• Strongly favorable 25%
• Somewhat favorable 18%
• Somewhat unfavorable 9%
• Strongly unfavorable 26%
• No opinion 14%
• Never heard of 8%

Barack Obama

• Strongly favorable 39%
• Somewhat favorable 15%
• Somewhat unfavorable 8%
• Strongly unfavorable 37%
• No opinion 2%
• Never heard of 0%

Do you think President Obama has performed his job as President well enough to deserve re-election, will you consider voting for someone else, or do you think you will vote to replace Barack Obama?

• Deserves re-election 38%
• Will consider voting for someone else 13%
• Will vote to replace Barack Obama 44%

If the 2012 election for President were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote...Mitch Daniels, the Republican candidate, or Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate?

• Barack Obama 47%
• Mitch Daniels 41%
• Undecided 13%

If the 2012 election for President were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote...Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate, or Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate?

• Barack Obama 51%
• Sarah Palin 42%
• Undecided 8%

Thinking about Barack Obama’s political ideology, do you think of him as:

• Very conservative 5%
• Somewhat conservative 5%
• Moderate 19%
• Somewhat liberal 24%
• Very liberal 42%

Thinking about Sarah Palin’s political ideology, do you think of her as:

• Very conservative 44%
• Somewhat conservative 26%
• Moderate 10%
• Somewhat liberal 6%
• Very liberal 6%

As you may already know, Sarah Palin has been the Governor of Alaska and was the Republican nominee for Vice President in 208. She resigned from her position as Governor in 2009 and currently runs a political action committee and works as a news commentator for Fox News. Based on what you know, would you say that Sarah Palin’s efforts since resigning as Governor in 2009 have made you more likely or less likely to support her if she runs for President?

• More likely/strongly 17%
• More likely/somewhat 14%
• Less likely/somewhat 13%
• Less likely/strongly 45%

If Michael Bloomberg ran for President as an Independent candidate, would you consider voting for him or would you not consider voting for him?

• Yes, would consider 32%
• No, would not consider 56%

As you may know, a new health reform bill was signed into law earlier this year. Given what you know about the new health reform law, do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of it?

• Very favorable 18%
• Somewhat favorable 24%
• Somewhat unfavorable 13%
• Very unfavorable 41%

If the election for Congress were being held today, and you had to make a choice, would you be voting for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate in your Congressional district?

• Republican candidate 47%
• Democratic candidate 43%

If the Republican Party becomes the majority party in both the US House and the US Senate, do you believe that the Republicans could successfully repeal laws that have been passed during the last two years?

• Yes 53%
• No 33%

How would you rate the job Congress has been doing this year? Do you approve or disapprove of the job they are doing?

• Approve 28%
• Disapprove 66%

Who do you think will better handle each of the following issues -- Republicans in Congress or Democrats in Congress?

Turning the economy around

• Democrats in Congress 46%
• Republicans in Congress 44%

Creating jobs

• Democrats in Congress 45%
• Republicans in Congress 44%

Who do you think will better handle each of the following issues -- Republicans in Congress or President Obama?

Turning the economy around

• Republicans in Congress 49%
• President Obama 41%

Creating jobs

• Republicans in Congress 51%
• President Obama 40%

When you use cable TV news channels to get news about the election, would you say you are mainly getting information from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC or some other cable news channel or website?

• Mainly Fox News 42%
• Mainly CNN 30%
• Mainly MSNBC 12%
• Other cable news channel/website 9%

Thinking now about some of the people who provide opinion and commentary about politics and elections…I am going to read you a list of some of these people. For each one, please tell me if you think this person has a positive impact or a negative impact on political debate in this country. If you do not recognize the name, just say so.

Bill O’Reilly

• Positive impact 49%
• Negative impact 32%
• Never heard of 12%

Jon Stewart

• Positive impact 34%
• Negative impact 22%
• Never heard of 34%

Sean Hannity

• Positive impact 35%
• Negative impact 25%
• Never heard of 34%

Glenn Beck

• Positive impact 38%
• Negative impact 32%
• Never heard of 23%

Rush Limbaugh

• Positive impact 36%
• Negative impact 52%
• Never heard of 5%

Rachel Maddow

• Positive impact 18%
• Negative impact 18%
• Never heard of 55%

Keith Olbermann

• Positive impact 23%
• Negative impact 25%
• Never heard of 42%

Ed Schultz

• Positive impact 11%
• Negative impact 11%
• Never heard of 70%

Survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted September 19-22, 2010 by The Tarrance Group (R) and Lake Research Partners (D). The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points. Party ID breakdown: 35% Republican; 35% Democrat; 29% Independent. Political ideology: Very conservative 25%; Somewhat conservative 38%; Somewhat liberal 24%; Very liberal 7%. Click here to view crosstabs.