Poll: 79% approve of way Obama is handling transition

[bk1983]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- -- With six weeks before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama is having one heck of a honeymoon, a new national poll suggests.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey out Tuesday morning are giving the president-elect the thumbs up when it comes to his handling of the transition.
Seventy-nine percent approve of Obama's performance so far during transition, with 18 percent disapproving.

Obama's approval rating is 14 points higher than the approval rating for President-elect George Bush in 2001 and 17 points higher than President-elect Clinton's rating in 1992, CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

Obama's current approval rating is also more than 50 points higher than President Bush's current approval rating, which now stands at 28 percent --- with 71 percent disapproving of the way Bush is handling his job as president.

"An Obama job approval rating of 79 percent -- that's the sort of rating you see when the public rallies around a leader after a national disaster," said Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst. "To many Americans, the Bush administration was a national disaster."

The poll indicates that 79 percent of the public thinks Obama will do a good job as president -- up 4 percentage points from last month. Eighteen percent think Obama will do a poor job as president, down 3 points from November.

And 78 percent of those questioned said they believe Obama will be a uniter -- 20 points higher than those who felt the same way about then President-elect Bush in 2000. Twenty percent say Obama will be a divider, 16 points lower than those who said the same about Bush.

"Bush came in promising to be a uniter, not a divider. That's a promise Bush failed to deliver -- as he himself acknowledged last week in an interview with ABC News when he said that one of his big disappointments is that the tone in Washington got worse rather than better," Schneider said.
"Nearly 80 percent describe Obama as a uniter. So far, so good."

Poll: 79% approve of way Obama is handling transition - CNN.com

 

[xsited1]

A CNN poll? I'm surprised it wasn't 100%. Didn't Saddam Hussein get a 100% approval rating each year he was leader of Iraq?

 

[WillowTree]

I'm in the minoirity! Oh well.

 

[bk1983]

A CNN poll? I'm surprised it wasn't 100%. Didn't Saddam Hussein get a 100% approval rating each year he was leader of Iraq?

You mean the same CNN poll which was accurate on this years election?

 

[bk1983]

CNN poll released Nov.3rd (day before election) had Obama up by 7 points. How much did Obama win by again, I think it was 7 points.. Oh well so much for the bias CNN poll..

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - ON THE TRAIL: Monday Nov. 3rd, 2008 « - Blogs from CNN.com

President - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com

 

[catzmeow]

Personally, I could not be happier with him so far. I'm a moderate, centrist voter and I worried that he might be far too liberal in his actions in conjunction with a democrat-controlled congress. I don't like to see too many of either party in power because I don't trust the Republicans OR the Democrats.

 

[WillowTree]

Personally, I could not be happier with him so far. I'm a moderate, centrist voter and I worried that he might be far too liberal in his actions in conjunction with a democrat-controlled congress. I don't like to see too many of either party in power because I don't trust the Republicans OR the Democrats.

catz he's not in office yet,, so what's not to be happy about?? I wasn't happy with him to start with so he's gat a long long way to go to make me happy.. he is liberal, pelosi and reid are liberal,, obamalama's first action will be to hand the UN 9 billion dollars to fight global poverty,(that will be 9 billion per year= a min. of 36 B) and then sign a trillion or 2 trillion dollar stimulus package the pelosi and reid are making ready,, the dems are in control,, make no mistake,, we are going to be more dependent on arab oil than ever before

 

[catzmeow]

catz he's not in office yet,, so what's not to be happy about?? I wasn't happy with him to start with so he's gat a long long way to go to make me happy.. he is liberal, pelosi and reid are liberal,, obamalama's first action will be to hand the UN 9 billion dollars to fight global poverty,(that will be 9 billion per year= a min. of 36 B) and then sign a trillion or 2 trillion dollar stimulus package the pelosi and reid are making ready,, the dems are in control,, make no mistake,, we are going to be more dependent on arab oil than ever before

I voted for him because McCain seemed like he'd fallen off the Crazy Train with Ozzy. But, I wasn't happy about it, and I was never one of his fanatical supporters. I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

 

[Gem]

Other than the buzz about Hillary Clinton...do you think that any of the people polled could list actual reasons why they felt so strongly about Obama's transition?

Hey, the people are happy....thats great. But I'm guessing its because they are excited to have Bush out and Obama in...not because of anything he is doing. He could be sitting at home decorating a Christmas tree with his kids...and as long as the media provided a picture of the cute and cuddly scene the American people would be thrilled.

 

[WillowTree]

I voted for him because McCain seemed like he'd fallen off the Crazy Train with Ozzy. But, I wasn't happy about it, and I was never one of his fanatical supporters. I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

I wasn't crazy about McCain either, this truly was a "pick the lesser of two evils" election year,,, not much we can do but wait and see, I am sorta just expecting the worst though cause he is joining forces with Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Kerry, Gore, Dodd, Fwank,, oh god, it's just too depressing..

 

[catzmeow]

Hey, the people are happy....thats great. But I'm guessing its because they are excited to have Bush out and Obama in...not because of anything he is doing. He could be sitting at home decorating a Christmas tree with his kids...and as long as the media provided a picture of the cute and cuddly scene the American people would be thrilled.

Wrong. Other than the Hildabeast, I am extremely happy with his cabinet picks so far, particularly AG.

 

[Chris]

Other than the buzz about Hillary Clinton...do you think that any of the people polled could list actual reasons why they felt so strongly about Obama's transition?

Hey, the people are happy....thats great. But I'm guessing its because they are excited to have Bush out and Obama in...not because of anything he is doing. He could be sitting at home decorating a Christmas tree with his kids...and as long as the media provided a picture of the cute and cuddly scene the American people would be thrilled.

Why shouldn't they be thrilled?

The adults will be back in charge soon.

 

[WillowTree]

Other than the buzz about Hillary Clinton...do you think that any of the people polled could list actual reasons why they felt so strongly about Obama's transition?

Hey, the people are happy....thats great. But I'm guessing its because they are excited to have Bush out and Obama in...not because of anything he is doing. He could be sitting at home decorating a Christmas tree with his kids...and as long as the media provided a picture of the cute and cuddly scene the American people would be thrilled.

his azz is gonna be on a Private Deluxe beach in Hawaii,,,, meanwhile back at the DUmp!

 

[catzmeow]

I wasn't crazy about McCain either, this truly was a "pick the lesser of two evils" election year,,, not much we can do but wait and see, I am sorta just expecting the worst though cause he is joining forces with Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Kerry, Gore, Dodd, Fwank,, oh god, it's just too depressing..

And I thought 2004 was bad...I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers when i voted this year.

 

[xsited1]

You mean the same CNN poll which was accurate on this years election?

They were surprisingly accurate this election. I'm sure there's a conspiracy theory somewhere here. Now they're polling job approval ratings for someone who hasn't started working yet.

 

[Gem]

Chris and Other Wrote:

Why shouldn't they be thrilled?

The adults will be back in charge soon.

LOL. Calm down...I never said that they shouldn't be happy...only that I doubt the majority of people polled could name anything Obama has done during his time as the "President-Elect" that has been particularly remarkable.

I think the poll is kind of dumb.

Of course people are allowed to be happy that Bush is leaving and Obama is coming in...but the poll asked if they are happy "about the way Obama has handled the transition so far..."

THAT is where I doubt most people have a flippin' clue. I'm sure they're happy he's going to be President...I just don't think for a second that most have a clue what he's been doing during this time.

 

[Silence]

Other than the buzz about Hillary Clinton...do you think that any of the people polled could list actual reasons why they felt so strongly about Obama's transition?

Hey, the people are happy....thats great. But I'm guessing its because they are excited to have Bush out and Obama in...not because of anything he is doing. He could be sitting at home decorating a Christmas tree with his kids...and as long as the media provided a picture of the cute and cuddly scene the American people would be thrilled.

except that's not what he's doing. he's put together his administration faster than any president in modern history. it's clear he's gearing up to hit the ground running and I think that is instilling confidence in the American people that we finally will have a president who is fully and completely engaged in the process of being president.

When he gets on television and speaks markets respond favorably. He's not sitting back and taking a wait and see attitude, he's out there reassuring the public that he'll be on the job from day one...there will be little "learning' curve" lag for him or his administration to "get up to speed" on what is happening.

Anyone who has been paying attention knows this and I assume that anyone who took a CNN poll did so because they pay attention.

 

[catzmeow]

except that's not what he's doing. he's put together his administration faster than any president in modern history. it's clear he's gearing up to hit the ground running and I think that is instilling confidence in the American people that we finally will have a president who is fully and completely engaged in the process of being president.

When he gets on television and speaks markets respond favorably. He's not sitting back and taking a wait and see attitude, he's out there reassuring the public that he'll be on the job from day one...there will be little "learning' curve" lag for him or his administration to "get up to speed" on what is happening.

Anyone who has been paying attention knows this and I assume that anyone who took a CNN poll did so because they pay attention.

This is so true, i don't ever remember this kind of publicity around this kind of decision-making before a president even took office. Does anyone remember how long it took Bush to fill key jobs? OMG, for fucking EVER.

 

[Chris]

This is so true, i don't ever remember this kind of publicity around this kind of decision-making before a president even took office. Does anyone remember how long it took Bush to fill key jobs? OMG, for fucking EVER.

That's because there was a game on.

 

[Gem]

We can agree to disagree...but I don't think the average American could tell you who he has selected, what he has said regarding the economy, etc. I think they are just eager for him to be Prez.

Considering that they showed fairly conclusively that even in Washington, D.C. most of the people polled couldn't identify a picture of Joe Biden the week before the election...its great that you have that much faith in the political acumen of the average American...I just don't share it. I think most Americans are worrying about themselves, their families, their jobs...they are looking forward to our new President...but they aren't really looking into who he's choosing for his administration.