National Polling Summary

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August 26, 2009
Anzalone Liszt Research
National Polling Summary

Welcome to the Anzalone Liszt Research National Polling Summary, a quick look at national public polls detailing key political environmental measures as well as attitudes of voters on the pressing issues of the week.

Health care reform continues to dominate the national political discussion (obsession). Though there has been intense press coverage during the recess on Healthcare and town hall meetings, Obama's overall job rating, health care job rating, and the general support /opposition of the health care reform plan has remained largely static - dispelling the myth of wholesale changes in voter attitudes and increased opposition to the President's plan..

Recently, the health care reform debate has focused again on the presence of a "public option" in healthcare reform legislation. A "FiveThirtyEight" post titled How to Poll on the Public Option is worth a read and gives solid insight into the different results people have been seeing on public opinion polling results. In their analysis, not surprising, they believe the best-worded question (Quinnipiac) shows strong voter support for the public option (62% Support / 32% Oppose).

Enjoy,

John Anzalone and Jeff Liszt

Health Care

Depth of Reform Necessary

Polling Firm	Date	Complete Overhaul	Major Reform	Minor Reform	No Need for Change	Unsure
NBC News	8/17/09	21%	39%	31%	7%	2%

NBC News: Do you think the American health care system needs a complete overhaul, major reform, minor reform, or is there no need for change?

Importance of Public Option Choice

Polling Firm	Date	Extremely Important	Quite Important	Not That Important	Not at all Important	Not Sure
SurveyUSA	8/19/09	58%	19%	7%	15%	1%

SurveyUSA: In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance?

Support for Public Option

Polling Firm	Date	Support	Oppose
Quinnipiac	8/17/09	62%	32%

Quinnipiac: Do you support or oppose giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans?

President Obama's Job Rating on Handling Health Care reform

Polling Firm	Date	Approve	Disapprove	DK
WaPo/ABC	8/17/09	46%	50%	5%
NBC News	8/17/09	41%	47%	12%

Republicans in Congress Job Rating on Handling Health Care reform

Polling Firm	Date	Approve	Disapprove	DK
NBC News	8/17/09	21%	62%	17%

Who do you trust more on health care reform: President Obama or Republicans in Congress?

Polling Firm	Date	Obama	Reps	Neither
CBS/ NY Times	7/28/09	55%	26%	7%

CBS/ NY Times: Regardless of how you usually vote, who do you think has better ideas about reforming the health care system: Barack Obama, or the Republicans in Congress?

Affect of town hall protests on your feelings towards Obama's Plan

Polling Firm	Date	Made No Difference	More Favorable	Less Favorable
NBC News	8/17/09	62%	16%	19%

NBC News: Has what you have seen, read, or heard about these town hall meetings made you more favorable toward, less favorable toward, or made no difference in your feelings about President Obama's health care plan?

Shouting down supporters of health care reform at town-hall meetings

Polling Firm	Date	Democracy in action	Abuse of democracy
Gallup	8/11/09	33%	59%

Who would be helped by health care reform?

Polling Firm	Date	Would Help Own Family	Would Help Other Families	Wouldn't Help Anyone
CNN/ ORC	8/3/09	30%	44%	20%

CNN/ ORC: From what you know of the health care proposal which Obama supports, which of the following statements comes closest to your view? Those proposals would help you and your family if they became law. Those proposals would help other families in this country, but would not help you and your family. Those proposals would not help anyone in the country.

The Economy

President Obama's Job Rating on the Economy

Polling Firm	Date	Approve	Disapprove	Unsure
WaPo/ABC	8/17/09	52%	46%	2%
Gallup	8/9/09	48%	49%	3%

President Obama's policies effect on the economy

Polling Firm	Date	Have Made Better	Will Make Better	Don't Think So	Unsure
CNN/ ORC	8/3/09	44%	11%	40%	5%

CNN/ ORC: Do you think Barack Obama's policies have made the economy better, or don't you think so? If responded don't think asked: Do you think Barack Obama's policies will eventually make the economy better, or don't you think so?

Which party is responsible for the country's current economic problems?

Polling Firm	Date	Dems	Reps	Equal
CNN/ ORC	8/3/09	23%	44%	24%

CNN/ ORC: Do you think the Democrats or the Republicans are more responsible for the country's current economic problems?

Who do you trust more to handle the economy President Obama or Republicans in Congress?

Polling Firm	Date	Obama	Reps	Neither
ABC/ Wash Post	7/18/09	56%	33%	9%

ABC/ Wash Post: Who do you trust to do a better job handling the economy: Obama or the Republicans in Congress?

US Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Rate

Date	Rate
July 2009	9.4%
June 2009	9.5%
May 2009	9.4%
July 2008	5.8%

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index

Polling Firm	Date
CB	June	49.3
CB	May	54.9
CB	April	40.8

President Obama

President Obama's Popularity

Polling Firm	Date	Fav	Unfav	Und/ Neutral
Research 2000	8/13/09	60%	36%	4%
CNN/ ORC	8/3/09	64%	34%	2%

President Obama's Job Rating

Polling Firm	Date	Positive/ Approve	Negative/ Disapprove
WaPo/ABC	8/17/09	57%	40%
NBC News	8/17/09	51%	40%
Gallup	8/23/09	52%	40%

First six months of the Obama administration

Polling Firm	Date	Success	Failure
CNN/ ORC	8/3/09	51%	37%

CNN/ORC: Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?

The Parties and Congress

Party Self Identification

Polling Firm	Date	Dems	Reps	Ind
NBC News	8/17/09	33%	20%	44%
Pew	8/17/09	33%	23%	38%

2010 Congressional Generic Ballot

Polling Firm	Date	Dems	Reps	Und/ Other
NBC/ WSJ	7/27/09	46%	39%	15%
NPR	7/26/09	42%	43%	10%

NBC/ WSJ: What is your preference for the outcome of next year's congressional elections: a Congress controlled by Republicans or a Congress controlled by Democrats? NPR: I know it is a long way off, but thinking about the elections in 2010, if the election for U.S. Congress were held today, would you be voting for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate in your district where you live?

Congressional Job Rating

Polling Firm	Date	Positive/Approve	Negative/Disprove
FOX	8/12/09	30%	59%
USA Today / Gallup	8/9/09	31%	62%

Congressional Republicans/ Democrats Job Rating

Polling Firm	Party	Date	Approve	Disprove	DK
Quinnipiac	Dem	8/3/09	35%	55%	10%
Quinnipiac	Rep	8/3/09	29%	59%	12%

United States Direction

Polling Firm	Date	Right Direction	Wrong Direction	No Opinion
WaPo/ABC	8/17/09	44%	55%	1%
Ipsos/McClatchy	8/3/09	46%	48%	6%
Time	7/28/09	51%	44%	6%

Random Facts

Top 5 Most Conservative States	Top 5 Most Liberal States
1. Alabama	1. District of Columbia
2. Mississippi	2. Massachusetts
3. Utah	3. Vermont
4. Louisiana	4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma	5. Washington

Via: Gallup "'Conservative' Label Prevails in the South"

Some Tweeting Facts From Tweetcongress.org (as of August 13)

� 159 Members of Congress are on Twitter:

o 43 Democratic Representatives (10 of them are ALR clients = 23%)

o 15 Democratic Senators (2 of them are ALR clients = 13%)

o 20 Republican Senators

o 81 Republican Representatives

o 23 ALR Clients are on Twitter (or 49% of our current clients)

� Our Top 5 clients with the most followers are:
1. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee - 3,757
2. Artur Davis - 2,003
3. Anthony Foxx - 1,045
4. Kay Hagan - 1,017
5. Leonard Boswell - 921
Not including President Obama our clients are followed by a total of 11,185 tweeters.
President Obama is followed by 1,964,349 tweeters

Health Care

Depth of Reform Necessary

Polling Firm

Date

Complete Overhaul

Major Reform

Minor Reform

No Need for Change

Unsure

NBC News

8/17/09

21%

39%

31%

7%

2%

NBC News: Do you think the American health care system needs a complete overhaul, major reform, minor reform, or is there no need for change?

Importance of Public Option Choice

Polling Firm

Date

Extremely Important

Quite Important

Not That Important

Not at all Important

Not Sure

SurveyUSA

8/19/09

58%

19%

7%

15%

1%

SurveyUSA: In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance?

Support for Public Option

Polling Firm

Date

Support

Oppose

Quinnipiac

8/17/09

62%

32%

Quinnipiac: Do you support or oppose giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans?

President Obama's Job Rating on Handling Health Care reform

Polling Firm

Date

Approve

Disapprove

DK

WaPo/ABC

8/17/09

46%

50%

5%

NBC News

8/17/09

41%

47%

12%

Republicans in Congress Job Rating on Handling Health Care reform

Polling Firm

Date

Approve

Disapprove

DK

NBC News

8/17/09

21%

62%

17%

Who do you trust more on health care reform: President Obama or Republicans in Congress?

Polling Firm

Date

Obama

Reps

Neither

CBS/ NY Times

7/28/09

55%

26%