HUFFPOLLSTER: Rising Approval For Obama's Handling Of ISIS [View all]

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HUFFPOLLSTER: Rising Approval For Obama's Handling Of ISIS

by Mark Blumenthal, Ariel Edwards-Levy, Rachel Lienesch at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/obama-approval-isis_n_5912652.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

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SURVEY FINDS SURPRISINGLY STRONG RATING FOR OBAMA ON ISIS - Aaron Blake: "Get ready to pop the champagne, White House. For the first time since January, President Obama is polling a 50 percent approval rating on an issue: his handling of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That is not a typo: It has been eight months since Obama last cracked half the American public on any given issue -- foreign policy or otherwise -- in Washington Post/ABC News polling. The newest WaPo-ABC poll shows 50 percent approve of Obama's handling of the Islamic State, as compared to 44 percent who disapprove. That's an improvement from August, when the question referenced only Iraq and not Syria, and 42 percent of Americans gave Obama a vote of confidence. Obama's new polling heights come as Americans overwhelmingly approve of the airstrikes he ordered in Syria." [WashPost]

Partisan gap - As Blake notes, support for airstrikes doesn't necessarily translate into approval of the president. Without Obama's name mentioned, Republicans are close to unanimous in supporting intervention in Syria, with 80 percent agreeing, but just 30 percent give Obama a positive rating.

How do other polls compare? - The Post/ABC survey is the second released this week to show Obama's rating on ISIS improving significantly. A CNN/ORC poll released Monday found Americans divided on Obama's handling of ISIS, with 45 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving -- up from 37 percent approval on the issue earlier in September, although still somewhat south of a positive rating. Other polling, released earlier this month, most found Obama's rating on ISIS in the high 30s or early 40s, similar to his overall foreign policy rating. [Pollster chart]

CNN FINDS DEMS GAINING ON GENERIC BALLOT - Jeremy Diamond: "Five weeks before the November midterm elections, voters give Democrats an edge over Republicans, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday. But the poll also indicates most of Democrats' gains are coming from the Northeast and not from the parts of the country where they're locked in tight contests that could give Republicans control of the Senate. In a generic ballot among likely voters, Democrats edged out Republicans 47 -45%, a 6-point swing from a CNN poll three weeks ago when likely voters favored the Republicans by a 4-point margin. The Democrats' advantage is within the poll's 3.5% margin of error." The CNN result helps nudge the generic ballot estimate produced by the HuffPost Pollster back to a near tie. Our tracking model is based on all public polling data but is calibrated to the results of the more reliable non-partisan surveys. [CNN, Pollster U.S. House vote chart]




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