The Numbers
A Run at the Latest Data from ABC's Poobah of Polling, Gary Langer
Gary Langer is director of polling at ABC News, where he's covered the beat of public opinion for nearly 20 years - conducting and analyzing ABC News polls, evaluating data from other sources and setting the news division's standards for poll reporting. Langer has won two Emmy awards for ABC's reporting of public opinion polls in Iraq, and The Numbers blog was honored this year as winner of the 2008 Iowa Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls.
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Biden's Approval: Like Obama's - Only Weaker
July 27, 2009 12:00 PM
Joe Biden’s predilection for wandering off the reservation in his public pronouncements hasn’t done much to harm overall his job performance rating, quite similar to the boss’. But in strength of sentiment Biden lags considerably – particularly in his own party.
Overall 55 percent of Americans in our most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Biden’s work in office while 33 percent disapprove, much like President Obama’s 59-37 percent, with somewhat more undecided. But Biden is less strongly popular. Obama’s “strong” approvers outnumber his strong disapprovers by 10 points, 38 percent to 28 percent. Biden’s, by contrast, are even, 20 and 21 percent, respectively.
While the top guy customarily draws more heat as well as more light, this also may reflect the impact of Biden’s occasional eyebrow-raisers. Latest, published this weekend, was his sharp criticism of Russia’s leadership, an odd note after Obama’s diplomatic overtures there. (This poll preceded that apparent stumble.) Early this month, in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Biden controversially suggested the United States would not block Israeli military action against Iran, and said the administration had “misread how bad the economy was.”
It’s among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents that Biden’s absence of strong support is clearest. Obama has 61 percent strong approval in this group; Biden, 32 percent. At the same time, Biden engenders much milder disapproval from leaned Republicans: Thirty-nine percent strongly disapprove, vs. Obama’s 58 percent.
Approve Disapprove
All: NET Strgly Smwht NET Smwht Strgly
Biden 55% 20 36 33 12 21
Obama 59 38 22 37 9 28Leaned Dems:
Biden 76% 32 44 16 7 8
Obama 86 61 25 12 4 7Leaned Reps:
Biden 29% 4 26 59 20 39
Obama 25 8 17 72 14 58
Both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were broadly unpopular at the end of their two terms in January, with approval ratings of 33 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Bush engendered 10 points more “strong” sentiment, either pro or con, than Cheney; there’s a bigger gap now, 25 points, between Obama and Biden.
Overall approval of Obama and Biden follows similar patters across demographic groups, with Biden’s numbers a bit lower, and undecideds a bit higher, across the board. One of Obama’s best groups, for instance, is young adults; he has a 74 percent approval rating from people under 30 – a group he won by a record margin in the November election. Biden, similarly, has a 66 percent approval rating from young adults, his best age group, though at age 66 he’d seem to have less generational affinity with this population.
That underscores how vice presidents tend to labor under the president’s shadow. In ABC News/Washington Post polls since 1989, approval ratings for presidents and their vice presidents (the latter measured far less often) have correlated at .87, an extremely close association.
Click here for a PDF with the full questionnaire.
July 27, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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THE ONLY thing more frightening than Obama as President is Biden as President. What was that you said about Sarah Palin ?
Posted by: Ron | Jul 28, 2009 11:55:58 AM
I don't think Biden's Russian comments were necessarily as far out of line as many think. If you recall Obama's recent Moscow visit, you'll note that he went out of his way to slight Putin, whom everyone knows is still in charge, while lionising the new (figurehead) President Medvedev.
Obama's remarks were formally correct, but so far from diplomatic they must have sent a deliberate message, something like: 'things have changed, Putin is passe'.
That's not far from Biden's supposed gaffe, in which he too discussed how Russia is entering a new economic and political era. Yes, it was considerably less diplomatic, but it was nonetheless aligned with the boss's message. I'd be astonished if it was not an intentional 'gaffe'.
Posted by: Stan Wright | Jul 31, 2009 7:17:13 AM
Even though i back up Obamas admisnitration, i do think it could be more constructive if the vice wouldnt just repeat what the president says.
Posted by: Juan Manuel Santos | Aug 2, 2009 7:40:57 PM
Who is asked the questions for this poll? It must be the entire ABC News Staff who of course are all liberals. All the people that I know personally, of both parties, are not that pleased with Obama or Biden. I question where ABC gets its polling numbers, since everyone there is a Cheerleader for the Liberals...What ever happened to the days when we didn't know the what the political views of the network staff were? I am surprised that ABC news employees didn't all wear Obama/Biden buttons during the election..Maybe ABC should look up what Fair and Balanced means in the Dictonary..I would definitely recommend that George S. on This Week take the time...oh I forgot he is best friends with the White House and the Clintons...I long for the David Brinkley Days when it was a fair discussion of the issues...Those days seem to be gone for every at ABC!!!!!
Posted by: kay O'Brien | Aug 8, 2009 9:49:31 AM
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