US: National Survey (NBC/WSJ 12/11-14)
Emily Swanson | December 16, 2009
NBC News / Wall Street Journal
12/11-14/09; 1,008 adults, 3.1% margin of error
Mode: Live telephone interviews
(NBC: story, results; WSJ: story, results)
National
State of the Country
33% Right Direction, 55% Wrong Track (chart)
Obama Job Approval
47% Approve, 46% Disapprove (chart)
Economy: 42 / 51 (chart)
Foreign Policy: 49 / 42 (chart)
Afghanistan: 46 / 42
Congressional Job Approval
22% Approve, 68% Disapprove (chart)
Positive / Negative
Barack Obama: 50 / 37 (chart)
Democratic Party: 35 / 45
Republican Party: 28 / 43
Tiger Woods: 15 / 42
What is your preference for the outcome of next year's congressional elections--a Congress controlled by Republicans or a Congress controlled by Democrats?
43% Democrats, 41% Republicans
In the next election for U.S. Congress, do you feel that your representative deserves to be reelected, or do you think that it is time to give a new person a chance?
38% Deserves to be reelected
49% Give new person a chance
From what you have heard about Barack Obama's health care plan, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea? If you do not have an opinion either way, please just say so.
32% Good idea, 47% Bad idea, 17% No opinion (chart)
Do you think it would be better to pass Barack Obama's health care plan and make its changes to the health care system or to not pass this plan and keep the current health care system?
41% Better to pass plan
44% Better to not pass plan
As health care legislation is being debated in Congress, some changes to the legislation are being proposed. I am going to read you some of these proposed changes, and for each one, please tell me whether that proposed change is acceptable to you or not acceptable to you.
The proposed legislation would no longer create a public health care plan administered by the federal government to compete directly with private health insurance companies:
42% Acceptable, 45% Not acceptable
Instead of creating a government-administered public health care plan, the proposed legislation would create a health insurance plan offered by private insurers that would be available in every state for people who lack employer-provided coverage, and would allow people between the ages of fifty-five and sixty-four years old to buy into Medicare, the government health care plan for seniors:
58% Acceptable, 32% Not acceptable
Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose increasing troop levels in Afghanistan?
55% Support, 39% Oppose
From what you know about global climate change or global warming, which one of the following statements comes closest to your opinion?
23% Global climate change has been established as a serious problem, and immediate action is necessary
31% There is enough evidence that climate change is taking place and some action should be taken
29% We don't know enough about global climate change, and more research is necessary before we take any actions
12% Concern about global climate change is unwarranted
Party ID
30% Democrat, 21% Republican, 42% independent (chart)
By Emily Swanson | December 16, 2009 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)
Comments
Only 3% differential for the public option is not very compelling. In addition, a poll that has Obama up by 1% when polling "adults" should have him worrying big time.
My opinion is that the poll shows the people's discontent with both the current leadership (or lack thereof) and the big government/spenders in congress and the White House.
2010 elections will be almost entirely about government spending and jobs.
@Field Marshal
So what poll are you analysing? It looks like your comment relates to a different poll.
This one. The +3% differential in the public option question (45- 42%) and the +1% (47-46) in Obama approval.
FM,
Were you reading that public option question closely?
"The proposed legislation would NO LONGER create a public health care plan administered by the federal government to compete directly with private health insurance companies:
42% Acceptable, 45% Not acceptable" emphasis mine
So a small plurality is unhappy that the public option was taken away.
I think there are a lot of unhappy people simply because they don't understand the legislative process. They keep hearing about the bill changing, how it has a lot of pages, etc... and they don't like it. I don't think people understand that bills are compromises, especially big ones like this.
Personally, I'm surprised the public option made it as far as it did. People were declaring it dead back in the summer.
Last I heard Ben Nelson has been negotiating for some pet projects completely unrelated to health care in return for his health care vote. Gotta love senators and their pork.
Ahhh, its good to be back.
An NBC poll showing Obama +1 with adults? Whoa. Things have gone from bad to worse for BO and the Dems. Pushing this unpopular HCR nonsense has totally killed Obama's job approval and that of the Dems in general.
Totally fascinating how the Dems and Obama seem hell bent on destorying themselves. Everywhere we look we have Dems fighting Dems over health care, we have Dems spending hundreds of billions we don't have. Since Dems took over in 2007 spending is up well over 20 percent I beleive. Obama has tripled the deficit in less than one year.
Poor leadership, over reaching and support for very unpopular legislation such as HCR are dragging Dems down. They are rapidly losing huge majorities among Indy's.
2010 is going to be a route. I don't think we have ever had a president drop this fast and thsi hard in job approval in his first year. He is using up all his capital on a very unpopular HCR bill. Fascinating.
Truly amazing ho fast the Dems have destoryed themselves.
Stillow:
Hey I'm a conservative too but we definitely HAVE had presidents fall this hard this fast. Clinton was actually faster, dipping into the upper 30s just six months into his first term. He recovered at this point in his presidency, but that didn't stop the Dems from losing 54 seats.
Reagan's approval at 11 months was right around where Obama's is today... and in 1982 the GOP lost 26 seats despite ALREADY being very much in the minority.
So these numbers don't reflect what will happen to Obama over the next three years at all. Anything can happen; GHW Bush was in the upper 60s at this point and lost re-election. Carter was in the upper 50s and ended up getting slaughtered by Reagan. But the numbers ARE a good indication of what will happen in 2010 unless there is a massive change in the landscape.
And I think Aaron is on to something. I actually do read FDL and DailyKos and they brought up a decent point; people hear "competition" and "public option" and they think "free health care for those who can't get it." That's why I think the public option was much more popular than the whole bill. Same for the Medicare buy-in. But while people liked some of those more liberal provisions, they hate the bill overall because they think it will lower their own health care quality and cost a ton of money that we don't have. I don't think the public gets enough credit for having such a nuanced stance.
Aaron,
Yes, it is a +3 IN FAVOR of the public option. Sorry for being obtuse.
Why isn't anyone looking at the Tiger Woods numbers?!?!
Health care reform packages must be signed by the New Year. The debate will do more to convince enough people that it is simply time to give up. The far right is getting very excited and wants the president to think they have stopped him. The people on the far left like Kucinich and Bernie Sanders are also expecting way too much considering the regional differences among Democrats. I congratulate the tea party people for being affective. Scare tactics have worked well for them since August. The liberals are too rational and peaceful when they protest against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The tea party people are not afraid to use violence and mob rule tactics to intimidate people. Their dedication is admirable but their causes are reprehensible.
Many tea partiers feel the Dems are conducting these polls to split the conservative vote.
This poll is pretty sad and unfortunate considering the disregard for the people who are still suffering in this country for being in debt due to health costs. The people at the free health clinics were interviewed and many of them are working at jobs and are employed. Lack of preventive care is still causing more deaths per year than Vietnam casualties in the entire war. I know where the GOP stands on killing any sort of reform, but the Democrats have confused the hell out of people too. I think when health care reform is based on not adding to the deficit over people's lives, that sums up our country in a nutshell. You can put a price tag on affordable health care but no price tag on fighting a war in Afghanistan. It understandable why people are losing hope and this poll rightly shows it.
Posted on December 16, 2009 7:43 PM