Approval bump for Obama following State of the Union??? Only in the biased reporting of the Marxist Media.

January 31, 2011

Obama averaged 50% for five days before and five days after State of the Union address

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Daily tracking finds no change in President Obama's job approval rating after his State of the Union address. The president's 50% average for the week ending Sunday, Jan. 30, matches the prior week's rating, which was the highest weekly average for Obama since May.

Those who watched or saw coverage of the president's State of the Union address on Jan. 25 generally gave it positive reviews. The speech does not, however, appear to have significantly affected Obama's job approval rating. Obama averaged 50% for the five days preceding his speech (Jan. 20-24) and 50% for the five days afterward (Jan. 26-30).

Highest Since May

Obama's job approval rating was generally in the mid-40% range in the summer and fall of 2010, including his lowest weekly average of 43% measured during two weeks in August. Approval rose to the high 40% range in December before reaching the current 50% average over the last two weeks of January.

The increase in Obama's ratings late last year and early this year was coincident with the bipartisan agreement on several pieces of legislation, including the extension of tax cuts and the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and Obama's well-received speech in Tucson on Jan. 12 after the shootings there on Jan. 8.

President Obama's job approval rating for the week of Jan. 24-30 was 84% among Democrats, 45% among independents, and 15% among Republicans.

Not Predictive of 2012 Election at This Point

President Obama's job approval ratings will ultimately be a good predictor of his chances for re-election in November 2012, but at this early stage -- some 21 months before the election -- they have little election forecasting validity. Ronald Reagan, for example, had a low 35% approval rating in late January 1983, yet went on to win re-election handily in 1984. On the other hand, President George H.W. Bush enjoyed a job approval rating of 83% in late January 1991 as the U.S. engaged in the first Persian Gulf War, yet he was defeated in his bid for re-election the following year.

Editor's notes: for the nine day period before and including the day of the State of the Union address on January 25, Obama's approval numbers rose on a incline from 44% to a 16 month high of 52%. The day after the SOTU speech, it fell two points and the next day, the rating was 47%, a full 5 points lower than on the day of the speech. Since then, he has rebounded but his [Rasmussen] averages remain 2 points lower than before the speech. Midknight Review - new and revised, believes his marginally lower numbers are being driven by the public's perception of his handling of the Middle East Crisis.

Understand that ABC News gave Obama a 92% approval two hours after the SOTU and CNN came in with an 80% rating, again minutes following the speech, confirming our claim of bias as relates to those news agencies. -- J Smithson, editor.