It was a pretty big polling day, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll dropped it's toplines right at the same time as Pew released it's full briefing, and then WSJ/NBC came back and released it's full packet.
Top lines first: approval ratings, favorability, the state of the country
Obama's approval rating is 50%-45% (-2 since last poll). His handling of the economy is 44%-51% (-4 since last poll), putting it back to August 2012 levels.
Obama's agenda however receives broad support on every key issue. 54% support offering legal status for undocumented immigrants (+2 increase), 61% believe firearm laws should be more strict (+5 increase). Support for the minimum wage increase is 58%-36%.
GOP Favorability is 29%-46%. Only 8% of respondents view the Republican party as "very positive," less than half of respondents that view the Democratic party the same over time.
Obama's favorability is 49%, and the Democratic party weighs in at 41%.
When asked if they agree or disagree with "most" of what each do, Obama sits at 45%-46%, Congressional Democrats sit at 40%-46%, Congressional Republicans sit at 29%-57%.
The "total agree" or "total disagree" numbers have Obama at 49%-48% and Congressional Republicans at 31%-58%.
Only 29% say they agree "with most" of what Congressional Republicans have proposed (45% feel the same about Obama, 40% feel the same about Congressional Democrats).
When asked if they are working towards unifying the country or just after partisan gain, Obama is at 48%-43%, while Republicans weigh in at 22%-64%.
32% believe the country is headed in the right direction (-3 since last month).
Polling before the upcoming Sequester PR war
52% say sequester is a horrible idea while 21% say it's good for the country.
53% want Congress to go through with sequester regardless if they like the deal, or find another plan with the same or more cuts in order to continue closing the deficit. 37% want a smaller-scale plan.
51% of people say the negotiations between Obama and Congressional Republicans make them feel less confident about the economy. 16% say the negotiations make them more confident.
50% say work together to avoid sequester, 46% say the cuts should go into effect.
Issue-based polling
The Democratic party continues to pound the Republicans on almost every single issue. They're +22 on looking out for the middle class, +18 on dealing with Medicare, +16 on dealing with healthcare, +15 on reducing gun violence, +14 on dealing with Social Security, +10 on energy policy, +7 in Immigration, +3 on taxes, and +2 on the economy. The issues where the GOP holds an edge are the token areas where the out-of-party power always leads: reducing the federal deficit (+6) and "controlling government spending" (+16). People still seem to favor them on "ensuring a strong national defense" (+26), but their lead continues to decrease.
WSJ/NBC asked which one or two issues, if any, do they think Congressional Republicans should compromise with Obama on to pass legislation: 36% said eliminating tax loopholes for the wealthy, 28% said expanding background checks, and 23% said improving children's access to preschool
Election polling
Chris Christie's favorability rating is 36%-12% (32% don't know)
Marco Rubio 24%-17% (39% don't know)
Other, random polling...
WSJ/NBC had a section pertaining to drones. 64% favor using drones, 12% oppose using drones, and 22% don't know enough about them.
42% want to continue the drone policy, 28% want it changed or modified in some way, and 29% don't know
When ask how they want it to change or be modified: 18% want the program expanded, 21% want to continue as is, 23% want it limited with more oversight, 4% want it stopped altogether
Pew Poll
Republican party out of touch (62% yes, 33% no), too extreme (52% yes, 42% no), open to change (39% yes, 56% no), strong principles (63% yes, 30% no), looks out for the country's future (45% yes, 50% no).
Democratic party out of touch (46% yes, 50% no), too extreme (39% yes, 56% no), open to change (58% yes, 38% no), strong principles (57% yes, 37% no), looks out for the country's future (51% yes, 45% no).
**That results in (R-16) on out of touch, (R-13) on too extreme, (R-19) on open to change, (R+6) on strong principles, and (R-6) on looking out for the future.
The GOP favorability in January dropped to 33%, and has not been above 50% since the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004.
Only 37% approve of Congressional Democratic leadership, 25% approve of their Republican counterparts.
Pew has discovered a new trend, that Republicans are growing more critical of their own party. That has been a contributor in the favorability of the party being the lowest it's been in two decades. Measuring where each party was at the last 4 inauguration days shows that while both parties have seen their favorability drop, the Republicans have seen their ratings drop twice as much as Democrats. In January 2001, Democrats had a 60% favorability and Republicans sat just below that at 56%. In January 2005, the Democrats had dropped to 53% but the Republicans dropped to 52%, still only barely behind. In January 2009, the Democrats had a surge in their favorability paired with Obama's inauguration and their rating increased to 60% while the Republicans saw their rating decrease further down to 40%. Democrats saw their favorability drop 15 points between Obama's first and second inaugurations putting it at 47% last month. Republicans saw their rating continue to drop as well, putting it at 33%. This means their favorability is only 2% higher than the all-time low in the party's history, which was reached in 1998 when they began the attempt to impeach Bill Clinton.
This post was edited by JayKwik on Feb 27 2013 04:10pm