Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama may be the most popular man in his administration, but according to a new national poll, he's not the most popular person.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday indicates that the president's poll numbers pale in comparison to the favorable ratings of two women: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama.
Fifty-eight percent of people questioned in the survey have a favorable view of Obama, with four in 10 holding an unfavorable view. But the president's favorable rating is 10 points below that of his wife and 6 points behind the secretary of state. According to the poll, 68 percent of the public has a positive opinion of the first lady, with 19 percent holding an unfavorable opinion. Sixty-four percent have a positive view of Clinton, with three in 10 holding an unfavorable view.
The survey indicates that nearly nine out of 10 Democrats have a positive view of the president, with Independents split and more than 3 out of 4 Republicans seeing Obama in an unfavorable way. The president's favorable rating is down 6 points from August and 11 points from April.
A reminder that a favorable rating is not the same as an approval rating: favorable ratings measure how Americans feel about Obama as a person, while an approval rating is an indicator of his job performance in the White House.
According to the poll, most Cabinet officials other than Clinton are not very well known.
"An exception is Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who may be better-known, and better-liked, than the rest because he also served for several years under former President George W. Bush," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Gates has a 52 percent favorable rating, with 18 percent unfavorable and 3 in 10 unsure. The defense secretary's 55 percent favorable rating among Republicans is one point higher than his rating among Democrats.
Twenty-seven percent of people questioned say they have a favorable opinion of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, with 33 percent holding an unfavorable view and 4 in 10 unsure. The poll indicates Americans are divided on their opinion of Attorney General Eric Holder, with 54 percent unsure. The public also appears to be split on their opinion of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, with 43 percent unsure.
"Geithner and Holder are relatively unknown. So is Bernanke, despite his status as Time magazine's Person of the Year and his high-profile confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill," adds Holland.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted December 16-20, with 1,160 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
From CNN Politics
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
Of course, Obama's numbers will continue to fall as he solidifies his image as a Washington status-quo insider.
Okay. Who on earth is surprised by these results. President Obama has had to make some of the hardest decisions of any President in the past 25 years. While I love Mrs. Obama and the example she is setting as First Lady, she does not have to deal with a fraction of what the President deals with every day. In a different capacity the same can be said for Secretary Clinton. So this is not an apples to apples comparison. Just another way to put down the President. Glad he has the smarts to ignore this kind of junk. Keep it going Mr. President...
The most inept presidency in history, the winner of the Nobel Peace prize, the man who apologized to the world that Bush upheld his constituional duties, is failing badly. This is something that SEIU/ACORN and George Soros can be really proud of, they have done a good job of destroying our country in a year since they installed this idiot in office. Hey CNN why don't you do a story on how much Obama received in campaign contributions from the financial services industry as compared to McCain, and then you will see some of the real problems with the econoby. His fraudulency will be revealed even more. While you are at it you may want to do one on the year long investigation of Charlie Rangel by Pelosi. There is a real joke.
No surprise there. Buyers remorse. And I don't buy the first lady as part of the administration.
If the President were popularhe wouldn't be doing his job!!! He must be judged AFTER he leaves office. Our President has many obstacles to overcome and constant criticism by the rabid Republlicans. Everyone please support him and our nation and bring civility back to the norm!!!
He is better than President Cheney and his lapdog Bush.
When the person in charge tries to do the right thing for Americans, it is not always popular. The GOP and Fox has tried very hard to destroy Obama.
DeMint, of South Carolina, has tried very hard to make everything a "Waterloo" for Obama. But for DeMint, it is not just health reform. By his holding up the appointment of the head of the TSA, he must have felt that an idiot like the underwear bomber would be able to kill Americans, and that would be Obama's "Waterloo." Or if the GOP could filibuster the defense appropriations bill and our troops could be killed because they would not be able to get necessary equipment, that would be Obama's "Waterloo."
This shouldn't surprize anyone, he's a fake and a scam artist. It's just taking a little time fore people to realize it. Here in Illinois we knew it a long time ago.
Obama's poll numbers are going to keep going down too. He's been a real disappointment.
The terror attempt from Yemen is proof that fighting in Afghanistan is doing nothing more than sacrificing good American lives and innocent Afghan lives.
When is Obama going to wake up to that?
A year ago he was probably the most popular person on the planet. Now I see him as a one-term president.
Anyone got any ideas who could be next for the White House?
You can't compare the favorability of person who has to make real and consequential decisions to those who are basically figureheads or following orders.
guess people like guys who lie cheat and steal there way to power. guys who have not back bone, guys who are cowards and clueless to economics. If you can read a telepromter and are clean you must be what other people want to be. how about his idiot leave the big lsland that my tax dollars are going to and come back and work. or go swim near the reef at pipeline pleaseeeeeeeee
There should be a poll to see if there are TOO MANY STUPID POLLS
Get to investigating and being journalists and stop wasting time with this kind of garbage.
Hillary would've been a better president....nobody wants to admit it, so I just did. P.S. Cheney's right about Obama's handling of the recent failed airliner bomb....Obama is proving to be weak and ineffectual...great talker, no walker
I know that I'm starting to wonder. Please Mr. President, I voted for you. Campaigned for you. Made calls, registered voters, etc. Stay the heck away from the far left. You need to think of Pelosi as the enemy just as much as Cheney is! I'm and Independent, and your going to lose our support the next election. I don't want you to be a one-termer. But you have got to be more moderate. Bush sold us out to China a long time ago, its time for some conservative fiscal spending. I know that we have to spend...but lets do some cutting back. I agree that Healthcare is a huge problem and it must be fixed, but lets not rush this through just for the sake of accomplishing something. Lets work together, and get the RIGHT bill passed.
Do you THINK President Obama cares about this?????????????? First of all, I am sure he is PROUD of his wife – he LOVES her and I am sure Michelle Obama is not RUBBING it in.............ONLY CNN!!!
Second, he elected Hillary Clinton to be the Secretary of State and I am sure he is PROUD of her also.
Bill Gates ratings are high – I am sure President Obama is proud of that also!!!
So what is the problem!??? Your headlines are ALWAYS misleading and geared towards making President Obama LQQK bad!!!...............NOT!!
Whether its health care , cap and trade or sky high spending , 2010 will not be a good year .
Get ready for economic meltdown , food riots and more left wing social engineering .
CO2 is not a pollutant . The middle class needs to fight back against cap and trade . Cap and trade is carbon slavery . Call your Rep. , your Senator , and the white house for a two year review of the tainted global warming science .
Even if you believe in global warming cap and trade is not the answer .
Just say no to Obama-gedden .
Another stupid poll, which of course shows that Republicans don't like our President. *yawn*
Please, CNN, stop it with these silly nonsense polls – what are we, in high school?
I'm more concerned with the facts about what is actually happening in this world, such as President Obama and his Administration inherited a huge mess from Bush & Company and have done many constuctive things to turn our country around (and that the GOP has stated they want our president and our country to fail).
If Hillary was President and Obama Secretary of State the numbers would be reversed. Being President means being disliked wheather you're incompetent like Bush or facing the crap left by Bush tht Obama is having to deal with.
"guess people like guys who lie cheat and steal there way to power. guys who have not back bone, guys who are cowards and clueless to economics....."
Ummm... I thought the Bush presidency ended in January. Have a nice day!
Pete K warns of food riots .... Are you kidding me? Every time I read one of these idiotic posts from the GOP lackey machine, all I can think of is these folks have never traveled or lived outside our country. GET A GRIP!
They have absolutely no prespective ... all they know if fear-mongering, hatred and division, brought on by ignorance and a reliance on Faux for their "information."
Mrs. Obama is just a photo op / marketing tool for the administration.
What's not to like about the fabricated fluff pieces: the garden, dog, decorations, dates, funny stories, visits to schools.... they have no real impact on everyone's lives.
It's overdone, but apparently working.
The President has the lion's share of tackling all the issues without excluding even a single one.
Not a single day passes without hearing him. The more he performs his work, the more people pick out some failures and hence this results in less popularity.
The failures/blames of two ladies mentioned, go indirect in the name of "The Obama Administration"!
Surprise, surprise - Obama sinks in polls. Obvious – he's a weak leader who thinks if you bow to foreign leaders, talks nice-nice to our enemies, apologize for US every time he goes overseas, throws money at every Country who whines, continues billions in bailouts to Fannie/Freddie & GMAC & doesn't have a clue how to run a Govt.
And precisely how retarded does one need to be to think, even for a moment, that the dude at the top of the pyramid, who has to take the blame for anything that goes wrong, would ever be the most popular? This poll tells us nothing we didn't know already.
hmmm...perhaps retarded enough to regurgitate a phrase such as "carbon slavery"? Laughable that one.
T'SAH from Virginia:
1. Didn't know Obama knew how to think
2. Obama doesn't need any help to look bad...he's doing a great job all by himself....
I, too, believe Obama will wind up being a one term president....the next president, however, should be a real "hard liner" just one step right of Atilla the Hun so we can defeat these darn terrorists and destroy all of their training grounds world wide. I am not kidding. We can have a president strong on national defense, and strong on building our economy, and building our domestic agendas up. Maybe we, as a people, should not always look at whether a candidate is Republican or Democrat. Are there any good Independents out there to vote in? I mean no matter how many registered political parties this country has, it always is either a Repulican or Democrat that is president. Thanks for reading my rant.
P.S. All of our who are not happy with this Administration, please remember that midterms are coming up and you have the right to vote them out and change the balance of the Administration.
The Obama family is a treasure to this country-by the summer of 2010, most Americans will agree. The Administration has several great people (Hillary for example)- but the leadership we are about to see will amaze. The party of NO has nothing but "NO" to give- and yes we can is still in it's primary stage. Wait and see-
Meanwhile: Cheney, limbaugh,palin,steele,joe wilson,etc spews their hate and makes their number one goal the failure of the President to Change their mistakes!
This tells it all, MOST do not like Obama. He is not a good president. He does not tell the truth and most americans see this in him. His campaign promises are all broken and he really wants the health plan to pass by the time he gives the state of the union address so he can say he did something positive
President Obama isn't looking at a 2nd term, so these ratings mean nothing. The President is focusing on cleaning up this mess we're in and that's all that matters. And for anyone who thinks a Republican can win the next election, wrong. Hillary Clinton all the way.
you can stop blaming the Bush administration now........
Bush will always be the most inept president ever. He earned that award outright because of 9-11. The second terrorist attack by the shoe bomber in Dec. of 2001, only solidified his place as the country's worst president.
Too bad republicans could not have reined in Bush's spending and tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%. Our grandchildren will be paying for that.
Notice, I did not attack the party of war for letting the buffoon from Texas fabricate reasons for his unnecessary invasion of Iraq.
So let me get this straight. President Obama's ratings are similar to 2 term President's REAGAN and Clinton around this time in their term, AND Obama has inherited a worse-off economy than them.
This poll just shows me that a ticket with President Obama and VP Hillary Clinton looks like a sure win in 2012!
@ Stinkagain.....Apparently, the polling results show with each passing day, the American public doesn't like your president any better either.
So keep doing the liberal wack-job two-step: Sip some Kool-Aid, then blame Bushie.
ONE AND DONE FOR THE STINKLE BARRY
Of course Clinton is more popular; she's only a socialist, while he is a full-blown Marxist loser. And fairly stupid I might add.
Unbelievable that the Republicans are trying so hard to provide aid and comfort to the terrorists (this is what they accused Democrats of anytime they questioned the Bush Administration). Especially the Chief Diverter of Money to Favored Corporations, Dick Cheney.
George W. Bush waited 6 days to make any statement concerning the "Shoe Bomber". Obama waits less time, and makes bolder statements, and this is the response of Republicans? I thought elephants were supposed to have great memories...
Wow, Obama is the First Looser!
I am very proud of the way President Obama is handling his job. If the roles were reversed First Gentlemen Barack Obama would be more popular. They are a wonderful caring couple and have earning the respect they have by the majority of Americans!
Let's face it. Michelle and the girls have had the best year of them all and have been this admistration's saving grace.
the president is the best thing that has happened to this country oh hell the world . he is trying with out republican help to make america safe and get us back on our feet . equal rights and fair health coverage . any poll that says he is down is one taken from a total republican area of one tooth idiots .
the poll is a joke . america voted him into office and we spoke loadly . so poll all you want MR. OBAMA IS DOING A GREAT JOB
CHANGE IS FINNALLY HERE
"Fifty-eight percent of people questioned in the survey have a favorable view of Obama.."
Amazing.....amazingly false. Rasmussen has him at 47%, "slightly" lower than CNN's 58%.
Obama will be the worst president ever if he isn't already.
If you believe CNN polls then you probably also believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy. I'd be surprised if 10% of the population still views Obama favorably. How could they? He's a total failure and a corrupt liar as well.
Pres. Obama has to realize that we are still at war! that Christmas day terrorism attack failed to kill but succeeded to detonate. He needs to get serious about the wars in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somolia. He needs to keep Gitmo open and use a military tribunal system for foreign combatants. He needs a stronger (even military) strategy for how to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Obama's refusals to speak frankly and opennly about islamic extremism, terrorism and this war has me very worried.
My faith in President Obama remains high.
Being President of The United States is NOT a Popularity contest!!! The man has a lot on his plate and he IS doing the job we elected him to do.
If Hillary Clinton were the President, she would have the same attacks thrown at her as President Obama. Who knows, maybe she would have received more attacks. She would have inherited the same mess as this President has and would be faced with the same problems. Just the fact that she is a woman would get her in hot water with some of the electorate. This medium gives some the chance to illustrate their hatred of some and they fear no retribution for saying any outlandish things they wish to say. These types seem to never read anything nor do they listen to the leaders, except the hate mongers and fear mongers that permeate the airways.. Maybe if they listened, they would learn that both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have always had similar agendas. We certainly know where Sarah Palin stands...and she feeds into these fear mongers' lines of propaganda.
Obama has done very well at defining the word: Failure, Idiot, etc.
I find the pleas to support "our" president hilarious on here by those that spent 8 years bashing Bush. Really 9 I guess because you are still doing it. "such as President Obama and his Administration inherited a huge mess from Bush & Company and have done many constuctive things to turn our country around" – Are you kidding me? What, like dropping the value of our dollar by 19% since March by overspending and stimulus? Passing healthcare that most Americans have said we don't want? Pushing global warming "science" and crap and trade? Throwing our constitution out the window? Oh, he's turned our country around all right! Numbnuts!
When is someone going to have the courage to stand up and ask Obama to resign....He has no leadership abilities; he is destroying our Country...not his.
I have a 100 percent negative minus to the tenth degree no good low down opinion of this administration, and that is what I come up with when I factor in the hope and change, and give him the benefit of the doubt, and a scoop of optimism. – 100% and sliding.
Former Republican: get your facts straight....I think it would Clinton that sold us out to China.....keep voting for Obama; we don't need you.
And he couldn't lose out to two finer women either!
I wish there was a word for this administration. I just keep thinking 'bunch of bozos'. There just isn't any way to describe them, so I will make up a a word. Serialidiots.
I wonder if Dick Cheney knows about this poll??? I think Dick is busy pretending he still has a political office and clout!
Good for Hillary and Michelle. I am not a big Obama supporter, but I think its disgusting the way the GOP is jumping on this underwear bomb story. I remeber waiting on pins and needles for president Bush to reassure us after the Shoe bomber it took him about 6 days and people gave him time and this was after 9/11 for shame Republicans for shame.
He may not win "Miss Congeniality" either. Being President is bound to make a person unpopular with a lot of people, especially if he does the job right. I'm not going to agree with every policy but it sure beats the last 8 years of complete incompetence, greed, and mismanagement. It's going to take a long time to recover from the Bush disaster!
"former republican....I don't want you to be a one-termer. But you have got to be more moderate. Bush sold us out to China a long time ago, its time for some conservative fiscal spending"
You voted for the most liberal senator ever, and now you want him to be a fiscal conservative? Not going to happen.....ever.
This is NOT the end of attacks against this country during, the next 3 years only the beginning..Expect many more....El-Quida, the Taliban, and all the rest of these nut jobs know for a fact that Obama, is just plain stupid, all he cares about is himself and getting reelected..He has not done one thing to prevent attacks and wont..He will protect this guy to the limit and then lie about what a great job he is doing..
He should have fired that loser in Homeland Security on Saturday. She is just another POLITICAL HACK JOB like Obama himself and he surrounds him self with as many as he can appoint..
ONE and DONE for this loser..
seebofubar – 'Here in Illinois we knew it a long time ago.'
Maybe south of I-80. The rest of us knew and still know that while Obama is still part of "The D.C. Machine", he's a VAST improvement over the previous administration. If we had continued the rate of increase in unemployment of the Bush Administration's final 17 months, the unemployment rate will stand at 12% by May. Thankfully, the rate of increase has been diminished under Obama. Just imagine where we would be if we kept going in the same direction.
Remember, GDP vs Deficit has been MUCH better for decades when a Democrat is president. The exception here is that the government and the privately-owned federal reserve averted total economic collapse throuogh Keynesian economics.
"A reminder that a favorable rating is not the same as an approval rating: favorable ratings measure how Americans feel about Obama as a person, while an approval rating is an indicator of his job performance in the White House."
Boy, and I was afraid this poll was useless....
I knew Obama himself must have fared pretty well in this poll when I saw that the headline CNN was going with was "Obama less popular than the First Lady or Hillary!" 58% favorability...not bad, Mr. President, especially since the media has spent the last several months telling us all about how you've been tanking in the polls!
And as others have pointed out, it's no surprise that Michelle and Hillary did better. Michelle Obama isn't President. She doesn't have to make controversial decisions that, by necessity, are going to anger large chunks of the population. The same is true to a lesser extent of Hillary Clinton.
But, I guess that's the so-called liberal media at work...determined to find a way to spin good poll results for the President as being "bad news for Obama."
Can`t believe Michelle is so admired...she`s nothing...except a cold,uncaring liberal elitist.
Obama not the most popular???!!! My, my, my... How the Messiah hath fallen! Could it be his radical left wing agenda???
Mr. President,
Coming from a combat veteran who served in the U.S Army, the message you are sending to our troops is one of complacency. You need to act, and act now. Stop talking as if you are trying to come up with the perfect politically correct answer or words, to appease everyone. Troops in theater need to know you are taking action, or have a zero tolerance stance on terrorism, forgein and domestic. Be the sharp end of the stick, strike first, fast and violently.
Democrat here who is very disappointed in Obamas leadership on the health insurance bill. The Senate bill is a boom to the insurance companies and there honestly is nothing in the bill that they cannot live with. Too bad Obama did not insist on some cost containment measures. I know of one lady in the administration who would have done that if she was president.
I hope he starts to lead not follow.
I'll tell ya why polls are, or should I say people, so stupid: can anyone really say what is it Hillary Clinton has done differently since the last time her numbers were said to be in the tank? Has she really changed that much? I mean, I never agreed with those who hated her to begin with. But now all of a sudden she's so popular? What did she do to make people change their minds? That tells you how unsure people are. So yes, sit down and criticize those elected officials because you're not the ones making the hard decision. No wonder we can't find the perfect elected leader we're all looking for because we refuse to look in the mirrors and see that we're the problems.
it seems that in both polls those that lean to the center or left are more popluar than those who lean to the right or far right. Seems like the right wing talk show hosts got it wrong once again.
Hillary and Michelle rock! Barry? Not so much...
Ladies first. Obama is a gentleman even when he is not trying.
What a guy!!!!!
nycitizen "hillary would have been a better president" now how in the hell can you say that? hilliary would have walked into this mess just President Obama did. you ignorant people who keep making the stupid remarks make me sick. President Obama is having such a hard time because he is AFRICAN AMERICAN. I don't care what anybody say, that's why white american/GOP want to see him fail. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against Hillary but if she would have won, she would have caught hell to, because she is a woman. I'm so glad the President ignores these stupid polls, they are ridiculous.
Obama is a dangerous, clueless "prince of prevarication" and "twister of facts" who is showing the world just how weak he is!
Vote for the new Republican "Hillary" in 2012!
@tate's comments. "leave the big island that my tax dollars are paying for" hey stupid tate. I love the fact that you think you are paying for the President's vaction, look idiot, the President has plenty of money, after all he is the President and guess what? he has money from his books so your little chump change is sooooooo not important, the firs family will be back when they get ready. LOLLLLLLLL
I am proud of President Obama and Michelle they are both positive examples.
No one likes a president as much after one year, unless some disaster unifies the country. But he is still above 50 percent, which is pretty good in a disastrous economy and two inherited wars.
I believe that the president is doing a good job. We have to remember that we inherited a MESS from the last 8 years from an administration that did NOTHING to help American people and everything to further their own agenda. Let us not forget that the Bush administration was the most corrupt and inept administration in American History. Our country literally went head first into a brick wall during that travesty of justice. They were the only administration in history that actually tried and accomplished reducing Civil Rights for hard working tax paying Americans.
Come on were we polling other presidents with all the problems they created before this president, looks like skin color is the issue, beleive me the others make some big mistake that don't get dicussed or polled.
Making unpopular decisions is never "popular". The Republicans have proven to be nothing but fearmongering racists, with no agenda. The GOP is like the teenager who goes along with the crowd, just to be popular. Well, newsflash hotshot...YOU ARE NOT POPULAR!
GOP: Evolve or die.
I guess it shows The President is doing a good if Republicans are upset.
Last time I checked, it wasn't supposed to be a popularity contest.
By the way, I am an Independent. Obama is a weak loser! Vote for the new Independent "Hillary" in 2012!
He is the administration that you helped build media.
MO is NOT as popular as Sarah Palin! She deserves no admiration as she is not a lover of America–only since her husband became pres is she proud of her country. The libs admire her now because Axelrod ordered her mouth taped shut........
Well he should be. He is an articulate, transformational President that when all is said and done will be one of our greatests!
Our President is doing a wonderful job under the conditions he came into office. Regardless of what he does good, he will never satisfy his critics or should I say the Republican party.
It is easy to be critical but it is difficult to align yourself with being a part of the solution. The history of education has taught us that when a person speaks, whatever they say uncovers their feelings but often paints a clear picture of their intellect.
Most people are not interested in these polls any more, they have moved on trying to focus on important issues like the economy, health care. Also I really do not know who is taking these polls because majority of the people I know say they are not taking these polls because they really do not matter now.
Let's just refer to President Obama as the 'biggest farce in our history of a country President." He's a 49yr old, narcissitic, chicago thug style politician and America doesn't want that. He campaigned moderate, but is showing his true colors. He's a muslim sympathizer who would throw most American's under the bus to pass his pathetic legislation. He is a 1 term president just like the disasterous Carter.
Using Ray Fisher's logic, GWB was just doing his job! Only the rabid critics were Democrats and most of the people on this board.
Answer me this: why do you suddenly want civility to be the norm now, when it hasn't been for Bush, Cheney or Palin for 9+ years now?
Obama has failed to use his popularity to advance good policies on behalf of the American people.
The "Obama" brand needs to be eliminated so that we can hold him accountable for what he does and does not do.
Obama failed to fight for real health care reform, for example, because he still thinks that all he has to do is flash his smile and pat the American people on the head as he gets away with screwing us over and collecting campaign contributions from us and getting our votes.
Enough.
Told yah so
I love my President and difficult tasks he face. He's doing the better than anyone else I can think of...I would not want to have these problems on my shoulders.
THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT!! KEEP UP THE A+ JOB!!
Is there a poll for best breath? Never in my life have I seen so much spent on something so worthless.
How could anyone have an unfavorable view of the First Lady? She has been exemplary in her duties and is a wonderful mother. I guess it's just the racist republican 19%