Bloomberg National Poll

The telephone poll was conducted between March 4-7, with a sample of 1001 randomly selected phone numbers, including cell phones, with margin of eror +/- 3.1. Here are some items I found interesting:

Most important issue facing the country right now:
unemployment/jobs 43%, deficit 29%, health care 12%,
war in Afghanistan 7%, immigration 3%.

Most important priority for the federal government:
creating job 56%, cutting spending 42%.

Who has a better vision for economic future for U.S.?
Obama 45%, Republicans 33%.

Should public employees have the right to collective bargaining?
Yes 64%, No 32%.

Who has more political power?
Labor unions 32%, Corporate America 63%.

Your opinion of the health care bill:
Repeal it 41%, See how it works 42%, leave it alone 12%
So: give it a chance + leave it alone = 54% = don't repeal

Opinion of the job Obama is doing as President:
Yes 51%, No 43%, Not sure 6%.

However, when broken down into issues, they disapprove more than they approve in 4 out of 5 (economy 43/52, health care 44/50, deficit 38/56 , jobs 44/51); only on the Middle East does he get 49/43 net approval. So there is something beyond the specific issues that causes them to approve of Obama as president.

Approval/disapproval of some key figures: (The first figure combines "very" and "mostly" favorable; the second figure combines "mostly" and "very" unfavorable; the third figure is "not sure."

Barack Obama . . . . . . .55% / 41% / 4%
Sarah Palin . . . . . . . . . 28% / 60% / 12%
Newt Gingrich . . . . . . . 28 % / 40% / 32%
John Boehner . . . . . . . .31% / 25% / 44%
Democratic Party . . . . . 48% / 42% / 9%
Republican Party . . . . . .41% / 47% / 12%
Tea Party . . . . . . . . . . 32% / 43% / 25%
Public Employees . . . . . .72% / 17% / 11%
Wall Street . . . . . . . . . .30% / 49% / 21%

Notice especially:

60% unfavorable for Sarah Palin (and that was 38% very unfavorable and 22% mostly unfavorable)

32% not sure for Newt. This was before his disastrous "confession" on Christian Broadcasting and the subsequent skewering of him by Lawrence O'Donnell and the scornful dismissal by David Brooks. I predict that the next poll will show a big shift into unfavorable.

The 72% favorable for public employees (includes firefighters, police, teachers, nurses) -- all highly esteemed and in the spotlight as Wisconsin Republicans "bust" the unions that represent them.

Summary: the Democrats come out ahead on most every question when looked at as individual issues. It seems all we need to do is get control of the message that blasts out over the airwaves 24/7 and begin to reverse those talking points and easy (wrong) answers that people absorb.

Ralph