Poll Watch: Bloomberg/Selzer & Co. 2012 Favorability Survey

Bloomberg/Selzer & Co. 2012 Favorability Survey

I'd like to mention some major economic and political figures. For each, please tell me if your feelings are very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very unfavorable. If you don’t know enough to answer, just say so.

Barack Obama

• Very favorable 22% (21%)
• Mostly favorable 33% (31%)
• Mostly unfavorable 19% (20%)
• Very unfavorable 22% (24%)
• Not sure 4% (4%)

Sarah Palin

• Very favorable 9% (9%)
• Mostly favorable 19% (24%)
• Mostly unfavorable 22% (24%)
• Very unfavorable 38% (33%)
• Not sure 12% (10%)

Chris Christie

• Very favorable 9%
• Mostly favorable 12%
• Mostly unfavorable 9%
• Very unfavorable 8%
• Not sure 62%

Donald Trump

• Very favorable 10%
• Mostly favorable 27%
• Mostly unfavorable 24%
• Very unfavorable 19%
• Not sure 20%

Scott Walker

• Very favorable 9%
• Mostly favorable 13%
• Mostly unfavorable 12%
• Very unfavorable 16%
• Not sure 50%

Newt Gingrich

• Very favorable 8%
• Mostly favorable 20%
• Mostly unfavorable 18%
• Very unfavorable 22%
• Not sure 32%

Survey of 1,001 adults was conducted March 4-7, 2011.  The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.  Party ID breakdown: 30% Democrat; 22% Republican; 44% Independent.  Results from the poll conducted December 4-7, 2010 are in parentheses.

Inside the numbers:

More Americans -- 55 percent -- view Obama favorably personally than approve of his job performance. He remains more popular than the Republican Party, at 41 percent, and Democratic Party, at 49 percent. 

Obama’s favorability among Republicans has increased since December, when he struck an $858 billion deal to extend all Bush-era tax cuts, as sought by congressional Republicans, in exchange for measures to promote jobs. He is now viewed favorably by 19 percent of Republicans, up from 14 percent. 

Gingrich is viewed favorably by 28 percent, down from 33 percent in a Bloomberg poll in July. He is doing better with Republicans, although worse with independents than in July. 

Among Republicans, 39 percent hold a favorable impression of real estate developer Donald Trump, while 48 percent of Tea Party supporters feel that way. 

Since December, Sarah Palin has dropped 3 percentage points among Republicans, 7 percentage points among both independents and Tea Party supporters and 3 percentage points among Democrats.