You can decide what, if anything, it all means.
Here are the approval/disapproval ratings for:
SurveyUSA polled 600 adults, using this methodology. Typically, polls of adults are two or three points more favorable to Democrats than polls of registered voters.
You can find links to the results here, and a quick summary of the results for nine states, including Washington, here.
Posted by Jim Miller at November 30, 2009 04:59 PM | Email ThisDate: 11/30/2009
Presidential Approval Index: -14
Strongly Approve: 26%
Strongly Disapprove: 40%
Total Approve: 47%
Total Disapprove: 52%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
Posted by: Tim on November 30, 2009 05:42 PM+
Only 1/3rd of all voters say their Congressperson is the best person for the job
+
Voters trust the GOP more on the top 10 issues
=
GOP leads the generic ballot by 7 points
Doesn't look too good for the Slavery Party, does it? All the trends are continuing down, and if Tax-Cheat Timmy and Helicopter Ben Bernanke are correct, and jobs don't pick up until 2011, then the election in 2010 will be epic...
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on November 30, 2009 06:52 PMcongress in general should get bad marks
dems worse
and then our 2 even worse than "average"
It means bupkis.
On 10/20/08 the same poll listed Gregoire's approve/disapprove numbers as 44/52. Less than a month later she beat Dino Rossi 53-47%
On 10/16/06 SurveyUSA listed Cantwell's numbers as 50/45. Less than a month later she beat Mike! McGavick by a much wider 57-40%.
Just so you don't think I'm only slamming this poll when it comes to Democrats, on 10/20/08 Mitch McConnell's numbers were 44/49; next month he won re-election 53-47%.
It doesn't cost voters anything to grumble and disapprove in general the person in office -- and folks are in a foul mood now so I wouldn't expect much approval anywhere. But real elections force real voters to make a choice between particular people, so they often vote for someone they "disapprove" because they disapprove of the alternative even more.
If unmatched approve/disapprove polls can't tell you who's going to win in three weeks, they really can't tell you what's going to happen in eleven months.
Posted by: scottd on November 30, 2009 11:45 PMI don't know if I would go that far, but I do agree with the sentiment. Approval ratings fail to take two key elements into account: opponents and 'environment'. Sure, Gregoire is not particularly liked, but voters were also asking "Is Rossi a better option?" I thought he was, so I voted for him. But I'm sure the mostly-left Pierce/Snohomish/King County block will still overwhelmingly support Gregoire. Also, 2008 at least was an election where most fence-sitters were convinced that voting Republican = GWB, so most people voted away from Republican candidates.
Neither of those sentiments would be reflected in an Approval Rating poll.
I would argue, though, that a high-approval poll likely indicates good odds for re-election.
Low approval creates a circumstance in which the perceived benefit of the challenger is compared to the low performance of the incumbent.
Posted by: erich on December 1, 2009 06:59 AMShanghi Dan mentions in #4 that jobs won't rebound until 2011. That could be true but what is "rebound"? The Wall Street Journal a few months ago had an employment graph that showed: If we have a steady 3% growth (from that point out) in jobs each year, we won't be back to the employment levels of 2007 until 2016! And that is if everything goes right which it isn't. And the reason it isn't is because of the naive boob that is inhabiting the White House. He believe that government creates jobs and until he gets off that Kaynesian kick, nothing in jobs growth will happen on any significant level.
Posted by: G Jiggy on December 1, 2009 01:09 PMIf most King County voters had been born with brains, they would have just taken them out and played with them.
Posted by: Saltherring on December 2, 2009 06:50 AM
These politicians have largely done exactly as was expected.
this is like investing in a cd for 5 years at 1% interest and then being angry in 4 1/2 years because you are earning 1%
Posted by: Andy on December 2, 2009 03:33 PM