The huge Republican gains in the midterm elections have resulted in a substantial increase in the party’s standing with the public, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News poll.
In the new poll, 47 percent said they have a favorable view of the Republican Party compared to 33 percent in October,
the Post reported Wednesday.
The new poll found that an equal percentage view Republicans negatively – the first time in six years that fewer than half of Americans expressed this view of the GOP.
By comparison, 44 percent express a positive view of the Democrats, while 50 percent give them a negative rating.
The midterms shifted public perceptions “of which party’s leadership is more trusted to deal with the nation’s biggest problems,” according to the Post. “Americans “narrowly see the GOP as more trusted today, a shift since last summer, when Obama had the advantage.”
According to the poll, Republicans have a nine-point advantage over President Barack Obama on who Americans trust to handle the economy and are also nine points ahead of the president on handling immigration issues.
On immigration, 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Obama’s performance compared to 38 percent who approve. The president’s negative-17-percentage-point margin is an improvement over the ratings he received two months earlier, when 61 percent said they disapproved and 29 percent expressed approval.
In surveys dating back 30 years, Democrats “were always rated more positively than negatively until late last year, at the time of the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov,” the Post reported. But it was not until this fall that at least 50 percent gave the party a negative rating.
The new poll put Obama’s approval rating at 41 percent (down slightly from 43 percent in late October) while his disapproval rating rose from 51 percent to 54 percent. It found that 41 percent of all Americans strongly disapprove of the way Obama is doing his job.
On handling the economy, 44 percent expressed a positive view of Obama, compared to 52 percent with a negative one. On dealing with terrorism, 48 percent said they disapproved of his performance while 43 percent approved.
The poll was taken by telephone Dec. 11-14 from a random national sample of 1,000 adults and has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.
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