
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Hours before Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a new national poll indicates that fewer Americans than ever think the president deserves the award. But according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, a majority of the public believes the president will eventually accomplish enough to merit the honor.
Nineteen percent of people questioned in the poll released Wednesday afternoon say Obama currently deserves the prize, with another 35 percent saying that it's likely he will eventually accomplish enough in office to deserve the award. Still, greater than four in 10 believe the president will never deserve the prize.
The 19 percent who believe Obama deserves the award is down 13 points from a CNN poll conducted in October, soon after the award was announced.
"That number dropped 21 among Democrats and 10 points among independents, possibly due in part to Obama's recent decision to send 30,000 more U.S. combat troops to the war in Afghanistan," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
But although most people do not think the president currently deserves the peace prize, seven in 10 questioned - including a majority of Republicans - say he should go to Oslo, Norway Thursday to accept the award.
The CNN Opinion Research Corporation national poll was conducted December 2-3, with 1,041 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report


I'd have more respect for Obama if he'd politely decline the award, citing that he doesn't deserve such an honor.
Not in a million years.
NO! NO! NO! The man is a fraud!!!!!!!!! How can a man who refuses to ratify an international ban on land mines, which cause so much misery and suffering for years be placed on such a pedestal.NO! NO! NO!
Of course, he deserves the prize. I am 63-years old and he is one of the most compassionate Presidents that I have ever known. Unfortunately, because he was left with two wars to deal with, people feel as if the award is not deserved. He attempts to work with everyone and just because others attempt to destroy everything that he wants to accomplish, does not mean that he is not a good person. I love the way that he does not get ruffled when the Republicans continuously attack him and his family. He is a truly peace-loving man.
YES, his Truth and Intent is obvious to the world unlike his lying, deceitful predecessors..
He will never accomplish enough to merit the honor as POTUS!
But he might gain notoriety as an American Idol or European Appeaser!
I don't even think he deserves to be president.
Yes, if for no other reason than his efforts to make America respected again on the world stage.
Definitely NOT -- The Peace Prize should have gone to Dick Cheney.
cough cough cough wheeez wheeeez -- choking back my laughter.
By all means, lets have a Republican landslide in 2010 and retake Congress so we can continue the lies, hypocrisy, arrogance, and truly idiotic comments from Steele – Cheney – Boehner – Palin – Hannity – O'Reilly – Limbaugh and the other slime bags on the right side of the aisle.
Didn't we beat this dead horse months ago? It's not Obama's fault that he was nominated by the Nobel committee. It was their decision – he didn't campaign for it and probably wishes it never happened.
CNN there has to be something else to write about instead of re-hashing the past.
Guess who REALLY thinks he doesn't deserve it? President Barack Obama.
He deserves it and should go to Oslo. He has already done so much to mend fences with other countries in less than a year. He will continue to wear that hat, but the Afganistan war was so screwed up by the previous administration that he doesn't have much choice but to try and fix that too. Cheney can crack jokes all he wants, but Pres. Obama is fixing he and Bush's messes!
I still need to know for what hw was awarded the Nobel. Even he was puzzled.
Yes, he does!
He will end the war in Iraqe in his first term and
he will end the war in Aghanistan in his seccond.
More troops for Afghanistan and Pakistan was one
of his electionpromisses. There is no choice here.
If we leave now the Taliban would be in office in one
year and that would be a desaster for the Afghan people
and it would turn Afghanistan into a place where terrorists
can plan there attacks all over the world.
So, the peaceprize for Barack is well deserved.
Support your President!
yes, he deserve the award.
Now this is one of those stupid polls. Like polling "do you think Bush did the best he could?" And CNN is weak for doing it.
"a majority of the public believes the president will eventually accomplish enough to merit the honor."
I thought you had to do "something" to earn it not May do something to earn it.
What a croc!
Polls are always nice.
Of course he deserves it. The polling question should've been: Did the Nobel Prize Committee DESERVE to be interrogated like common criminals by the AMERICAN press as to A) Why did they give Obama the award when he'd just been elected President, and B) What was the voting breakdown of the Nobel panel judges. What a classless thing to do. OUR guy, and American, wins the Nobel Peace Prize and in typical American arrogance we QUESTION the judges decision, as if it were up to us to determine who gets the award; and as if we would have made a better choice as to who to give THEIR award and THEIR money to.
And you guys ask why Obama had to apologize to some parts of the world for our behaviour towards them? We're arrogant and classless little people sometimes.
What a joke....after all the deserving people that should have had this honor....
This is a dumb non-story!
First of all, recipients of the Nobel Prizes don't have anything to do with the nominating and selection process; it's not the Academy Awards, after all.
So quit trying to somehow make this into a story about President Obama – it's a story about the Nobel Committee and their desire to show their faith and hope in President Obama as a world leader capable of doing great things for the benefit of not just the United States, but the world.
And in case no one's noticed, the President is a lot more interested in helping our country than in collecting prizes; he made that pretty clear with his speech after the Peace Prize was announced. He keeps a very busy schedule doing all that he can for us – and I, for one, appreciate his intelligence, hard work and dedication on our behalf!
Of course not.
Even his most strident supporters must admit to that.
I believe the goal now is to try and earn it. Time will tell.
President Obama talks peace, but carries a big stick. is that Noble, Uh! I meant Nobel.
Hello Cnn,
Yes, He is worthy of this prize. We will remember as a Noble winner but also a Great president. He is a man of peace for all. He has great vision and wisdom as evidence of how he has carry him self in the Global world.
thank you,
Jose-Florida
I voted for Barry and I am 100% behind him. I do believe however the award was premature. They should have waited a few years, when they will see what a brilliant diplomat he is by restoring the stature of the USA in the eyes of the world.
He deserves the Noble prize as much as I do. It's a joke. Our President wants to be the world leader, he has no idea how to be President of the United States of America.
Polling a random sample of the 300 million idiots in this country really only gets you about the equivalent of claiming "we had the entire kindergarten class eat their crayons today and a certain percentage of them said they still preferred paste." Or better yet...some of the morons found their way to liking the flavor of the blue or red crayon more than the other one. ha
Here's the rub: all this indicates is that Americans, who feel entitled to everything anyway, also feel entitled to have an opinion about whether a private organization with its own reasons for doing things and its own standards for doing them, did the right thing. What a shocking revelation.
How could the 19% still believe he deserved it? He'd been in office TWO weeks at the time of the nominations. He hadn't done anything! Being the first American President of mixed racial background doesn't mean you deserve something as prestigious as the Nobel Peace Prize.
RIght now you simply cannot say he deserves to be in the same group with Nelson Mandela and others who have sacrificed, struggled and labored for years for Peace.
Give him a couple years to do something deserving of the honor.
First of all, the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke so I'm not surprised by anybody who wins. But if it were an actual merit-based award, then no, Obama clearly shouldn't win it. What would he win it for?.....he has failed on everything he has done since taking office. But, then again, Jimmy Carter won it and Al "I'm a Total Fraud" Gore won it so Obama might as well join the rest of the losers.
For what?
One the one hand clearly President Obama does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize...the body of work to earn it is not there. On the other hand his gentlemanly and gracious handling of the idiotic pundits (and racist...yeah, I [white guy] said it) attacking him shows his peaceful class and demeanor. And lastly, he did not seek or ask for it. Rather it was awarded to him, I believe in the hope a complete paradigm from the nightmare that was President Bush will occur throughout the world. No longer, America the one and only, but rather America, one of the many of our global community...the epitome of peace.
It was nothing more than a slam against Bush, the guy no more deserves it than I do.
I don't think anyone, including the Nobel committee, has claimed President Obama was being rewarded for past actions. If I recall correctly, the committee stated they awarded him the prize as a endorsement of his stated foreign policy.
Simply put, it was an endorsement, not a reward.
I fully support the Presidents decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan because its a fight that we and the Afghan people cannot afford to lose. But he does not deserve the highest medal for peace efforts in the world while escalating a war, even if that war is justified.
Are for peace when you waging a war against somebody dedicated of destructing you because of their religious belief? That is debatable
Are you for peace when you trying to reduce' eliminate or prohibit the proliferation of very dangerous nuclear weapons? Some will debate the existence of this weapons create the peace and others will debate eliminating them will create peace.
Are you for peace when you trying desperatly to convince other party members on mission to destroy your presidency by opposing everything and anything you trying to do even if it's for good purpose?
Are you peace when you trying to work with other nations to reduce the CO2 emission in the atmosphere which it is scientificaly proven to be destroying the Ozone and earth even when the sceptiques do not believe so?
Try to answer this questions and you will conclude if Obama deserve the nobel peace prize
Ha, and the nobel prize for economics. Obama and his media/celebrity enablers are dangerous and disgusting.
Obama is such a fraud...too bad Americans are going to have to clean up his mess for decades.
Peace Prize for what? Seriously.
He has realigned our european allies . After they had been alienated by the former leaders for eight years. And to my pleasure he spoke to muslims with repect and this effort made a sad situation better and I hope may one day help restore peace in the middle east. I belive these things are the reason he will get the Award. I am sick of these old combantants like Cheney.
This was a biggest joke of all times!!! No one will think of or value the Nobel prize the same way again! The Nobel prize committee really goofed and for ever destroyed the worth and value of winning a Nobel prize after it is clear that one with no achievements can also win the worthless prize!!!
Evidently he does. He was awarded the prize. If CNN want to poll people, why don't CNN do a poll and see how many people are sick and tired of reading about Sarah Palin on the political ticker every day.
I believe that someone must first actually accomplish something before given any award. President Obama has made no more moves or progress towards peace than any previous President. Is there peace in Afganistan? Is Iran working with us towards any kind of conclusion or peaceful resolution with the nuclear problem? Are Israel and the Palestinians working towards a peaceful resolution of their problems? Are we having beers with the Russians and resolving our differences? Does Chin a give a hoot what we think of their lack of concern for their people and freedom? The answer to all these questions is "no". Therefore, he does not deserve the award.
According to the mean people in America, Obama doesn't deserve to be living let alone being POTUS. The world sees him in a different light and that is a good thing. I rather have a president who recieves Nobel Peace Prizes than a president who get shows thrown at him when he goes abroad! I am proud of President Obama and America should be too, he is OUR Leader and deserves our support!
Obama has done nothing to deserve any Peace Prize, and he knows it/has said so himself. If he were a man of integrity, he would not accept the award until such a time as he has done something to earn it. Surely there are now-deserving folks out there who should have been recognized?
No way. He hasn't done anything why should he receive a peace prize? Talk is cheap and that is basically all that he is a good orator.
I am very proud of the President. Finally, something for our country to take pride in. God bless you, Mr. President.
No, Nobel Peace Prize will become a joke if Obama get it. If I were Obama, I would politely say 'no' to the award. It's a shame to accept some thing you don't deserve.
By no means should Obama have won the prize, truly a mistake was made.
Even he was shocked that he had won, but I don't blame him for accepting the prize, it will look nice in his office and I beleive that he said he was going to donate the money to a charity.(he likes giving away money doesnt he)
He has not really done anything personally that warrants him receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on his own merits. I think he understands that quite well and will be very careful about what he says in the acceptance speech and how he acts afterwards. To put him in the same category of people as Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King is a bit ridiculous at this point in his career. So far his greatest lasting achievement is to be the first African-American president elected to office, which is VERY important, but does not qualify him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Didn't he just approve the increase of 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan? Strange that a wartime president is given the Nobel Peace Prize especially when so many other people have been working for decades on peace around the globe.
give it to him, after all it's only a badge of deception such as past winners Gore, Carter, Tutu and Arafat. WOW..
A person cannot "deserve" an award at some pint in the future after it is given. The question and the concept are ludicrous. Just as was the award to Obama.
All you are going to get here is a political vote, nothing intelligent or thoughtful.
Why not? Gore got one for being a phony...besides, Has obama actually earned anything he's received to date?
No,but he does need to pay for the travel to accept it.After all if he were a military person getting a civilian award he word have to pay his own way to accept it....Then next week back to Denmark,what kind of carbon foot print is Obama leaving? How Hypocritical of him to want us to go green while he creates more green house gasses in a day than we do all year.
President Obama has many good ideas and if the republikans would leave him alone he might actually be able to go ahead with some of the promises he made during the campaign.
As the he saying goes – lead, follow or get our of the way!
I think it depends on who you ask...President Obama could find Osama Bin Laden and start world peace and those on the right would still say no. However I would go along with the president's own opinion when he himself said "NO I don't deserve it". He's going to give the money to charity and accept it on behalf of the United States so I can't see why we can't just be pleased with that.
Add me to that four in ten who thinks giving Obama that prize ranks right up there among the all-time absurdities.
The man makes a great speech, and looks good in a tailored suit, but unfortunately, even when Obama's in it, the suit is still mostly empty.
More importantly, obmama himself said he doesn't deserve it. For once, I agree with him. If he wants to score some points with a majority of Americans who also agree that he doesn't deserve it, he would go there and "respectfully" turn it down. Do I expect him to do that? No.
We should be proud that an American President is being honored in this way, even if we have a debate as to whether he has done enough to be granted this high honor.
He has accomplished more in his few months in office than the previous administration, who managed to turn most of the world against us, did at any time.
He talks to other countries about peace, equality, working together and lets them know we will no longer maintain the dictorship attitude of the past.
He has brought back respect and trust for our country. He has and will continue to mend fences with others. He listens to and hears the thoughts of others.
There is no other working for and believing in diplomacy to the extent he does. He is trying to unite our world.
Yes Yes Yes! President Obama also President Bush deserves The Nobel Peace Prize.
If the president was eligible to be nominated, then of course he was eligible to win, weeks before he won this award people were happy and joyus that his effort's to bring the Olympics to Chicago failed, people were actually happy, then he wins this award and people are outraged, I think the message from the voting committee is "President Obama we appreciate you and your efforts, even if the people in your own country dont. That is all.
He was awarded the prize because he "... captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." Under this criteria, I feel it should just as well have been awarded to Susan Boyle.
I think he was given the award because after only a weeks weeks in office he said the US would promote more peace.
Uhh..... Now that we are doing more surges in Afghanistan I think the Northern Europeans made a bad gamble. Obama is a great guy, but the PEACE prize winner just sent more troops into WAR!!
Crack me up!!!
Yes...he does deserve it. He has brought hope to milliions of people around the world. He has fulfilled a life long dream of Dr. Martin Luther King. Obama has inspired many Americans to change their attitudes for better opportunities in life.
Palin doesn't know what having to earn a Nobel Peace Prize means. Palin is no where near the level of POTUS/FLOTUS not in this or any life time.
No he doesnt deserve it. He was nominated only 2 weeks after he became president. He hasn't done anything. If we could all get a noble prize for talking.
I voted for Obama and I think it was a joke for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Kinda funny that he won an award for "peace" and just annouced to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to kill and be killed. Can the Nobel Prize committe change their mind?
Obama was awarded the prize because he "... captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." Under this kind of criteria it should just as well have been given to Susan Boyle. No scratch that. At least she's liable to accomplish something.
This is a case that polls don't mean nothing, President Obama was awarded the Peace Prize, he'll get it and he does deserve it. Nothing is changed.
Absolutely, there will be political history buffs studying politics BEFORE Obama and AFTER Obama. I'm proud of him and I think he deserves the prize. He changed the way we look at the highest office in the land, and the world. He deserves the NPP.
What I don't understand is why people are comparing what he has to do to protect the country to why he won the prize. The Nobel Peace Prize doesn't mean you lay down like a door mat and allow other countries to harm yours. No the president is doing the right thing and I stand behind him 100%.
Until jobs are created, war in Afghanistan and Iraq has ended, he should not be awarded the Peace Prize. Starving people in what was the greatest country in the world do not equal Peace.
For less than two weeks in office........NO
NO! What's been accomplished!?
Why, When, How, for What?
NO.
i think he inherited an absolute mess going into office....but not enough history in this role to give the award......maybe down the road. I do realize this IS a private award....they are the keepers to the keys on whether it should be given or not. But, it kind of taints the 'respectableness' of it's history.
What an embarrassment!!! Of course he doesn't deserve it. Obama is quickly becoming one of the worst presidents ever!
Absolutely, there will be political history buffs studying politics BEFORE Obama and AFTER Obama. I'm proud of him and I think he deserves the prize. He changed the way we look at the highest office in the land, and the world. He deserves the NPP.
What I don't understand is why people are comparing what he has to do to protect the country to why he won the prize. The Nobel Peace Prize doesn't mean you lay down like a door mat and allow other countries to harm yours. No the president is doing the right thing, and I stand behind him 100%. Anyone who says otherwise is just a sore loser, and they never supported the president in the first place.
He has done NOTHING to deserve this award! NOTHING! Things are actually worse now that he took office than they were last year. I guess Obama isn't the brilliant guy he told everyone he was right?
A prize given by foreigners to a person who is selling the U.S down the river. Obama is trying to penalize our own American industry through crazy carbon regulation by foreign entities. Any questions why he received the award? Higher costs for American business to do business. MONEY is the end all game!!!
As much as I continue to support him, I don't think the Peace Prize was appropriate.
I was on a cruise recently and was speaking with a woman who had just come back from tour of western Europe last year. She said as their tour bus pulled into a city, the tour guide told them to say that they were Canadians. It was safer then claiming to be Americans.
Respect cannot be demanded – it has to be earned That Obama has done and done well..
I think EVERYONE in this world deserves a Nobel Peace Prize if they are truly about PEACE. I deserve it as much as anyone else. So why wouldn't President Obama accept it?????????????????
And YES, he is donating the money to charity and some of the people blogging here have a problem with that too!!!!!! Jeez!