Poll Watch: Washington Post-Pew Research Survey on Barack Obama and the Killing of Osama bin Laden

Washington Post-Pew Research Survey on Barack Obama and the Killing of Osama bin Laden

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president?

• Strongly approve 29%
• Somewhat approve 27%
• Somewhat disapprove 14%
• Strongly disapprove 24%

• Total Approve 56%
• Total Disapprove 38%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling:

The economy

• Strongly approve 18%
• Somewhat approve 22%
• Somewhat disapprove 16%
• Strongly disapprove 39%

• Total Approve 40%
• Total Disapprove 55%

The situation in Afghanistan

• Strongly approve 28%
• Somewhat approve 32%
• Somewhat disapprove 15%
• Strongly disapprove 14%

• Total Approve 60%
• Total Disapprove 29%

The threat of terrorism

• Strongly approve 42%
• Somewhat approve 27%
• Somewhat disapprove 9%
• Strongly disapprove 12%

• Total Approve 69%
• Total Disapprove 21%

How much credit, if any, do you think Barack Obama should get for the killing of Osama bin Laden – a great deal of credit, some, not much or none at all?

• Great deal 35%
• Some 41%
• Not much 13%
• None 8%

How much credit, if any, do you think George W. Bush should get for the killing of Osama bin Laden – a great deal of credit, some, not much or none at all?

• Great deal 15%
• Some 36%
• Not much 15%
• None 31%

How much credit, if any, do you think the U.S. military should get for the killing of Osama bin Laden – a great deal of credit, some, not much or none at all?

• Great deal 86%
• Some 10%
• Not much 0%
• None 2%

How much credit, if any, do you think the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies should get for the killing of Osama bin Laden – a great deal of credit, some, not much or none at all?

• Great deal 66%
• Some 23%
• Not much 3%
• None 3%

Please tell me if each of the following does or does not describe your own feelings about the death of Osama bin Laden, or not?

Relieved

• Yes 72%
• No 26%

Proud

• Yes 60%
• No 36%

Happy

• Yes 58%
• No 37%

Afraid

• Yes 16%
• No 83%

Survey of 654 adults was conducted May 2, 2011. The margin of error is +/- 4.5 percentage points.

Inside the numbers:

Among Republicans, 61 percent say Obama deserves at least some credit for the move. But just 17 percent of them say he deserves a “great deal” of credit for bringing bin Laden to justice after a nearly 10-year pursuit by U.S. intelligence and military forces. 

Republicans are more apt to give former president George W. Bush acclaim for killing bin Laden, with 81 percent saying he deserves at least some of the credit for what happened Sunday. Only 35 percent of Democrats share that view, however, with a slender 4 percent giving the former president a lot of credit. 

There is more bipartisan agreement that the U.S. military and intelligence deserve a great deal of credit for the killing. 

For the president, the nine-point increase in his overall approval rating is on par with the six-point increase in Bush’s numbers in the weeks following the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in December 2003. Then, as now, political independents moved the most. 

Compared with the mid-April Post-ABC poll, Obama’s approval rating among independents is now 10 points higher, at 52 percent. Bush got an identical 10-point boost among independents in December 2003. For Bush, that lift proved short-lived, with the entire increase gone within six weeks.