From Rasmussen Reports
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16 (see trends).
After a fairly volatile week, the president’s ratings are back to the recent average in our month-by-month review.
Most voters say that President Obama is more liberal than they are. The president’s numbers are virtually identical to those of the Democratic Congress. A plurality view Republicans in Congress as more conservative than they are.
Platinum Members can review the president’s ratings on national security, the economy, and other issues. They also receive demographic crosstabs for all surveys, state-by-state comparisons on key issues, historic data, Media Meter results for leading candidates, and more.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.
Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove. The Rasmussen Reports Media Meter shows that media coverage of President Obama has been 54% positive over the past week. Coverage of the president has become significantly more positive over the past week.
In his new book, Scott Rasmussen says, “The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.” In Search of Self-Governance is available at Rasmussen Reports and Amazon.com.
It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama's numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That's because some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. It is also important to check the details of question wording when comparing approval ratings from different firms.
In 2008, Obama won 53%-46% and our final poll showed Obama winning 52% to 46%. While we were pleased with the final result, Rasmussen Reports was especially pleased with the stability of our results. On every single day for the last six weeks of the campaign, our daily tracking showed Obama with a stable and solid lead attracting more than 50% of the vote.
We also have provided a summary of our 2008 state-by-state presidential results for your review.
In 2004 George W. Bush received 50.7% of the vote while John Kerry earned 48.3%. Rasmussen Reports polling projected that Bush would win 50.2% to 48.5%. We were the only firm to project both candidates’ totals within half a percentage point by (see our 2004 results).
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