Most see Obama as ‘strong leader,’ say deal on debt ceiling does not require cuts

[Bill USA]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-see-obama-as-strong-leader-say-deal-on-debt-ceiling-does-not-require-cuts/2013/01/15/f32e4fc8-5f64-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html?hpid=z3

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More Americans now approve of the way Obama is doing his job than at any point in the past three years, except for a fleeting spike upward after the killing of Osama bin Laden. The number seeing him as a “strong leader” is sharply higher, and a clear majority again sees him as empathetic with the problems they face.

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Most say they are hopeful about the policies Obama will pursue over the next four years, with the president buoyed by his relative standing against the GOP.

Fully 55 percent say Obama is doing a good job overall, more than double the 24 percent saying so of the Republicans in Congress. Among political independents, 54 percent approve of the president’s job performance; just 21 percent give good ratings to congressional Republicans. (At 37 percent overall and 30 percent among independents, the Democrats in Congress do little better.)

The GOP congressional leadership also takes flak for a perceived unwillingness to work with Obama on important issues: 67 percent of all Americans see them as doing “too little” to compromise with the president. Far fewer, 48 percent, say so about Obama’s willingness to compromise with the GOP.



(more)


link to detailed poll results: http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/01/16/National-Politics/Polling/release_194.xml

[hedda_foil]

1. OMG They're losing among Repub voters too!

Republicans in the poll have also led the revival in Obama’s “strong leader” number. Overall, 61 percent see the president as a strong leader, up from 51 percent a year ago. Since then, there has been a 17-point increase among Republicans, from 18 to 35 percent.

Nearly half of Republicans also take the president’s side when it comes to one important aspect of the intense debate over the nation’s debt limit: that the issue of raising the borrowing limit should be separate from the identification of spending cuts.

Republican leaders in Congress have drawn a hard line that such cuts are essential to any legislative deal to raise the debt ceiling. But Republicans in the poll are divided on the issue: 48 percent say any increase in the debt limit should be tied to cuts, while nearly as many, 45 percent, say that the two issues should be isolated, discrete issues.

Overall, the public sides with Obama on this question: 58 percent say cuts should be a separate matter, and 36 percent say they should be knotted with the borrowing limit. Obama also has the trust edge here: 49 percent say they have more confidence in him to handle the issue, compared with 35 percent who put more faith in the GOP.