Center for American Progress
Public Opinion
By Ruy Teixeira | April 27, 2009
This Wednesday, April 29, marks the 100th day of Obama’s presidency. And the reaction from the public is an overwhelming thumbs up. In a just-released Pew Research Center poll, the president’s favorability rating stands at 73 percent, with just 24 percent viewing him unfavorably.
This drives conservatives absolutely batty. How can so many people approve of him when Obama is pursuing a big government, big spending “socialist” agenda? He must be casting some strange spell over the American people to get such high ratings.
A simpler explanation is that the public likes his policy approach and feels he’s on their side. When an early April CBS/New York Times poll asked whether Obama cares more about protecting the interests of ordinary people or of large corporations, 71 percent thought he was on the side of ordinary people, compared to a mere 17 percent who thought he favored large corporations.
And as for all those terrible regulations on banks and financial institutions that will allegedly slow down economic growth and discourage private investors? In the same poll, the public rejects that contention by 71-23, calling instead for more government regulation.
So it’s not just that the public likes the guy. They like what he’s doing. The sooner conservatives realize this the sooner they can move on from silly stunts like tea parties to the real business of governing.
