Latest Presidential Tracking Polls 2012

Obama May Unnecessarily Be Getting Negative Coverage

8/11/2009, by Proloy Bhatta

HIGHLIGHTS

Gallup's daily tracking poll suggests Obama's poll numbers have remained steady since July 21.
Ipsos/McCltachy has measured Obama's poll numbers steady for the past couple of weeks.
So why is Obama getting all this negative polling coverage?

Three approval ratings for president Barack Hussein Obama have been released in the past week.

Quinnipiac University polled registered voters from 7/27-8/3/09 and found Obama's approval rating to be the lowest all time of any of the major pollsters, 50%. He dropped 7% in the past month.

The latest poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation conducted from 7/31-8/3/09 measured an approval rating of 56%, a drop of 5% from a month earlier.

But one pollster, however, has Obama's polling numbers remaining steady. Ipsos/McClatchy in a poll conducted from 7/30-8/3/09, polled him at 57% a gain of 1% from 3 weeks ago but a drop of 6% since early June.

It is possible that Obama's polling numbers took a 5-7% dive between early June and early July but has remained steady since.

According to Gallup's tracking poll, this appears to be the case. Gallup found that Obama's approval rating dropped to 55% in a poll conducted between 7/20-22 and has remained steady ever since. He is still at 55% in their latest tracking poll conducted between 8/7-9.

If Gallup and Ipsos are accurate, Obama's poll numbers have been steady for the past three weeks.

Polls are just a snapshot in time. All the CNN and Quinnipiac polls really tell us is that Obama's approval has dropped since late June and early July. But we already knew that.

So then what does this all mean? With new polls showing Obama's numbers dropping, he gets unnecessary negative attention at a time when his poll numbers are actually remaining steady. Then as a result of all the negative coverage, Obama's approval rating could drop even further. Obama's rating should be graded as a function of his job performance on issues such as health care and the economy, not on negative coverage that he receives from poor polling. Especially not when those polls are measuring a phenomenon that occurred over three weeks ago.

Polls can tend to be spun whichever way you like them. Saying that Obama's poll numbers may have been steady for the past three weeks just is not a very popular position to take. It is more exciting to say that Obama is dropping like a fly even though Gallup's daily tracking poll suggests otherwise.