Poll: Obama approval tied to stimulus, economic outlook

President Obama and Congressional Democrats' economic stimulus package is arguably the “New Deal” of the 21^st century. Both ambitious and controversial the plan continues to generate passionate debate from wildly opposing view points on the social and political spectrum.

A new CBS poll indicates that while support for the stimulus may have slipped over time as our country continues to struggle out of its economic rut, the package is still viewed positively by a majority of Americans. The poll oddity here is the weight given to independents. 39.6% of the responders claimed to be independent, a figure that is much higher than national registration totals would suggest. However the gap between Democrats and Republicans surveyed by the poll is just over 6%, reflecting a fairly accurate depiction. Recent partisan samples from Rasmussen Reports find Democrats with an advantage of slightly under 7% for instance.

Taking our queue from this particular CBS poll support for the stimulus package seems tied to the view that voters hold of President Obama’s overall job performance. Both have slipped in recent weeks but continue to win over a majority of Americans. Solid economic news from the past couple of days could inspire more confidence in the effectiveness of both, although persistently strong data has proven fleeting thus far in 2009. Simply put, the source of falling support for Obama and the stimulus can be summed up by the saying, “it’s the economy, stupid!”

The CBS poll finds a 48-44% approval to disapproval split in terms of how President Obama is handling the economy. The four-point margin is down from a substantial 22-point divide from just last month. 57% of Americans now approve of Obama’s job performance. While that is down six points after a rocky month of June the decline in support comes from Democrats and independents, not Republicans. An additional 50% expect at least two more years of recession meanwhile. Democratic support for the President has dipped from 92% to 82% over the last month. It seems quite plausible however that a number of disenfranchised Dems may get back on the Obama-Express if and when Judge Sotomayor is confirmed to the Supreme Court. 

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