Thur morning on CNBC, John Harwood – one of NBC’s political hacks – reported on the most recent WSJ/NBC survey.
He rote-repeated the regular lib refrain: yes, the President’s approval ratings have fallen because people don’t like his policies … but people still like him as a person.
Oh, really ?
The WSJ/NBC survey asked people to “rate your feelings towards President Obama as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very
negative.”
The WSJ/NBC data does say that 46% have “net positive” feelings towards Obama … 41% have “net negative” feelings towards him.
So, he has a plurality but not a majority.
- Technical Note: “Net Positive” adds together “Very Positive” and “Somewhat Positive”; “Net Negative” adds together “Very Negative” and “Somewhat Negative”;
In February 2009, Obama’s net positive was 68%; his net negative was 19%.
In other words – from February 2009 to August 2010 – Obama’s net positives dropped by 22 points and his net negatives increased by 22 points.
More significant, Obama’s top & bottom box ratings have converged.
In February 2009, 47% felt “very positive” towards him … only 19% felt “very negative”.
Now, 27% feel “very positive” towards him (a drop of 20 points) … and 27% feel “very negative” (up 8 points).
Looks to me like folks aren’t liking him as much as they used to …
The Homa Files 