ABC News/Washington Post poll: Obama Gains vs. GOP on Jobs as Congress Hits a New Low

[ProSense]

By Gary Langer

Obama Gains vs. GOP on Jobs as Congress Hits a New Low

Barack Obama has jumped to a 15-point lead over the Republicans in Congress in trust to handle job creation, a sign the beleaguered president’s $450 billion jobs package has hit its mark in public opinion. Fifty-two percent support the plan – and most say it just might work.

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For all of Obama’s well-documented woes, these and other results in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll underscore that politics are comparative, the public’s economic ire is omnidirectional – and it’s possible to move the bar.

A month ago, Americans divided evenly, 40-40 percent, on whom they trusted more to handle job creation, Obama or the congressional Republicans. Now, after his jobs proposal and ongoing promotion of his plan, it’s 49-34 percent, Obama’s first significant advantage over the GOP on jobs in ABC/Post polling since early 2010.

The president’s also maintained a large advantage over the Republicans in Congress in being seen as more concerned with the interests of middle-class Americans, now 52-32 percent. And the GOP, by a vast 70-17 percent, is seen as being more concerned than Obama with protecting the interests of the wealthy, a sentiment on which Obama has capitalized with his proposed millionaires’ tax.

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From the poll PDF:

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JOBS and TAXES – The economy’s the problem, with the weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index a point from its record low in more than 25 years. As noted, Obama’s jobs proposal has won some positive notice: Fifty-two percent of Americans support it, with 36 percent opposed and the rest withholding opinion. Even 21 percent of Republicans like the idea, as do 47 percent of independents (vs. 38 percent opposed) and more than eight in 10 Democrats.

Notably, somewhat more, 58 percent, think Obama’s jobs package, if it passed Congress, in fact would do a great deal or somewhat to create jobs – including 91 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independents and a quarter of Republicans. (The slight gap between support for the package and the belief it’ll create jobs may reflect a cost-benefit evaluation.)

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Taxing millionaires in fact is one of the rare political issues to draw bipartisan majority support – 57 percent from Republicans, 75 percent among independents and 89 percent among Democrats. Even among supporters of the Tea Party political movement, 55 percent support raising taxes on millionaires, although this drops to 36 percent of “strong” Tea Party backers.

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