Poll: Obama Sees Big Approval Bounce, But Public Says He Has No Mandate

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM



TOM KLUDT 9:00 AM EST, TUESDAY DECEMBER 18, 2012

President Barack Obama claims his highest approval rating since since the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday, but the public overwhelmingly dismisses the notion that he has a mandate.

The poll shows 54 percent of American adults approve of the job Obama is doing, compared with 42 percent who disapprove — the highest shown in ABC/WaPo's polling since May 2011. Nevertheless, 56 percent said Obama does not have “a mandate to carry out the agenda he presented during the presidential campaign,” but instead should " “compromise on things the Republicans strongly oppose." Thirty-four percent said the president does have a mandate.

Still, Obama claims an 18-point edge over Republicans in the public's trust to handle the economy, as well as a 26-point advantage over the GOP in trust to protect the middle class. Moreover, 50 percent said they approve of Obama's handling of the economy, his highest mark in the category since the ABC/WaPo poll in June of 2010, while 48 percent disapprove.

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Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/poll-obama-sees-big-approval-bounce-but-public

[Dawgs]

1. Wait until people realize that his policies will end up being no different than Romney's. n/t

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. You're kidding, right? ...

To say President Obama's policies will end up being no different than romney's is either uninformed, or worse!

[Dawgs]

7. Actually it's an opinion, as it's a prediction of the future.

You can't be uninformed on something that hasn't happened yet.

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. So how ...

do you make decisions?

[iandhr]

5. Wow.

Obama will not end medicare, supports marriage equality. How can you say there is no difference. This is the problem with the extreme left.

People like you see no difference. Vote for Ralph Nader and we end up with Bush as a result.

[Dawgs]

9. So, what's left is far-right or right of Nixon?

And, I have to make my choice between the two because we might end up with the far right instead of the just plain old right?

Is that how it's going to work for now on?

No thanks.

And I would never vote for Nader.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Yes, Actually ...

that IS EXACTLY how it works out ... think of/work for what we want; with all the bells, whistles and glitter-farting unicorns, then when that option does not materialize, choose many the remaining options.

We make negative choices everyday, on a whole host of decisions ... Why should politics be any different?

[iandhr]

14. Here is a list some of the Presidents accompaniments...

1. The Lily Ledbetter fair pay act.

2. Saving the Auto Industry.

3. Repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

4. Dodd- Frank.

5. Healthcare Reform

6. Ending the war in Iraq.

7. The Matthew Shepard hate crimes law.

8. Two Pro-Choice women on the SCOTUS

Oh yeah I almost forgot.

HE GOT BIN LADEN

Given the Presidents past achievements and given he is 10x smarter then anyone in the room I am prepared to give him some latitude.

If you really can't tell the difference between Mitt and the President there is nothing I can say

[JackRiddler]

15. Nader voters had no effect on the stolen election of 2000.

In your haste to be annoyed by someone you don't like who got a 2.5% share of the vote by legitimate means, please don't blind yourself to the enormous crime of an election decided by fraud and a judicial coup.

[iandhr]

18. Yes they did

93,000 morons in FL could not tell the difference between Bush and Gore and voted for Nader.


Bush "won" FL by 537.

With out Nader we would have never suffered through 8 years of Bush. Katherine Harris and SCOTUS would never have been able to steal the election.

[JackRiddler]

19. No they didn't, and the Bush forces demonstrably stole Florida.

The real margin was closer to 100,000 for Gore than anything in the hundreds either way. This has been established in the recounts conducted by the media consortium. And this despite the massive frauds and voter suppression moves by the Jeb Bush-Katherine Harris government. And even then it took an unprecedented and unconstitutional judicial coup to stop the recount from giving the state to Gore. This was a historic crime conducted in plain sight, with corporate media support. It was the end of the pretense to democracy in this country. We still live with the consequences today. Get some perspective. Nader didn't have anything to do with the electoral coup d'etat of 2000. Know your real enemies. Show the courage to address the elephant in the room, instead of scapegoating the gadfly.

Nevertheless, by your logic, hundreds of thousands of registered Democrats voted for Bush. So it was their fault! Most of your 93,000 Nader voters probably hadn't voted in ages. In effect he recuperated them for the system. Their votes don't just belong to you or to Gore by some kind of divine right. That's what you're going to have to figure out.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. So mandates only exist for Republican presidents who don't have mandates.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. I guess ...

Looking at the break out numbers, there appears to be just that ... a mandate.

When one holds:

Still, Obama claims an 18-point edge over Republicans in the public's trust to handle the economy, as well as a 26-point advantage over the GOP in trust to protect the middle class. Moreover, 50 percent said they approve of Obama's handling of the economy, his highest mark in the category since the ABC/WaPo poll in June of 2010.

This is clearly a mandate, even if , while 48 percent disapprove of your handling of the economy.

I think what the 56%, that say they don't see a mandate, are really saying is they want to see something get done, rather than the grid-lock we have been experiencing.

[Missn-Hitch]

6. Exactly.

My jaw dropped when I read that. May I remind people to watch GWB's post-second-term election comments vs. Obama's.

[KoKo]

8. lol's. The ABC article has it's own spin/interpretation.

To me it's bias says that Ameircans want compromise with Repugs. Same old ...same old interpretation.

[closeupready]

10. The Republican media establishment shills for Republicans.

Same crap. Though it's a different day.

[struggle4progress]

13. I bet they're polling the same folk who told them Romney would win

[goclark]

16. Exactly!

[JackRiddler]

17. This is why polls do abstractions like "approval" and "mandate."

Did they ask what people think should happen with Social Security, or taxes on the rich? Because that produces a very different answer.

[santamargarita]

20. What public ¬ just a bunch of bullshit

[busterbrown]

21. Give me break on this......

We have such a dumbed down electorate, that most people asked
don’t know what a mandate means in our kind of democracy.

They equate a mandate with an edict from a Dictator or Pope.
This is what we have to deal with...