Obama's approval flat, public divide holds

by Mark Silva

One week after President Barack Obama delivered a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress calling this "the season for action'' on health care, his public job-approval stands today - at 51 percent - in the Gallup Poll - where it did the day of his speech.

In the week since the speech, Obama's approval rating reached a high of 53 percent in the daily Gallup track, the momentary rise basically within the margin of error for the poll

And, Gallup reports today, as others have noted as well, that "Americans are closely divided as to whether Congress should pass a healthcare bill this year. ''

Thirty-eight percent say they would advise their member of Congress to vote for a bill, 40 percent would advise a no vote, and 22 percent have no opinion on the question. Looking at only those who voice an opinion on the matter, 50 percent favor or lean toward favoring a bill, 47 percent oppose or lean away.

"Americans -- who were divided on healthcare reform legislation before President Obama addressed Congress last week -- remain so after the speech,'' Gallup's Jeffrey Jones writes.

"Part of this stems from deep partisan divisions, with the vast majority of Republicans opposed to reform and the vast majority of Democrats in favor,'' he notes. "It is unclear how much success the president and other healthcare reform proponents will have in changing Americans' philosophical views about healthcare, which are probably more fundamental to their worldviews and therefore resistant to change.

"However, the final details of the plan Congress may vote on -- perhaps most importantly, how the government proposes to pay for it -- could help to ease some of Americans' practical concerns, which could in turn increase support for healthcare reform,'' Gallup's analyst suggests.

Another poll, sponsored by Bloomberg News, suggests that people overwhelmingly support some of the goals that Obama has set for health-care reform: "More than eight out of 10 people support covering the uninsured, curbing costs, creating an insurance-purchasing exchange, and preventing insurers from dropping coverage or refusing to accept people with preexisting medical conditions.''

And Bloomberg reports of its poll conducted by Iowa-based Selzer & Co., "Majorities say employers should have to offer insurance and individuals should be required to have coverage.''

The Bloomberg-sponsored poll also gauged Obama's job approval at 56 percent.

"Americans are less sure of the plan as a whole,'' Bloomberg reports of its survey. "At least half say they don't think Obama can fulfill promises such as passing legislation that doesn't add to the federal budget deficit, preserving the Medicare trust fund and producing savings to help pay for drugs for Medicare patients.''

All of this tends to play into the talking point that the Republican Party has embraced since the president's speech: It isn't Obama's health-care pitch that is causing concern among a doubtful American public. It's his plan.

Obama will be pushing that plan full-bore on the Sunday morning talk shows, with bookings on CNN's State of the Union, ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation and NBC's Meet the Press. He'll also work the lighter side of the media on David Letterman's Late Show on Monday night, his first appearance as president but sixth career stop on the show.

The Bloomberg survey of 1,004 adults was conducted Sept. 10-14 and carries a 3 percentage point possible margin of error.

The Gallup survey of 1,030 adults on health care was conducted Sept. 11-13 and carries a possible margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The results of the Gallup daily tracking poll on Obama's job approval come from a survey of about 1,500 people conducted over the past three days, with a possible 3 percentage point margin of error.
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