Gallup has found that unemployment ticked slightly up by the end of January, going up to 9.8 percent (up from 9.6 percent at the end of December 2010). That’s the highest Gallup has measured unemployment since the average last October was at 10 percent even.
The president’s approval rating is still at a net positive, according to Gallup, with his approval at 48 percent and his disapproval at 45 percent, numbers around which Obama has been hovering since December. But for the first time since 2005, the Republican party’s approval rating has eked out a net positive, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in January. That’s coming from an all-time low in late 2008:
After the 2006 midterm elections, which saw Americans remove the Republicans as the majority party in Congress, the Republicans’ ratings were 35% favorable and 58% unfavorable.
The Republican Party’s image remained negative over the next two years as the economy worsened, except for a 47%-47% reading after the party’s well-received national convention in 2008, which ended days before the financial crisis intensified. Just after Americans elected Barack Obama to replace Bush later that year, the Republicans’ net-favorable score was -27 (34% favorable, 61% unfavorable) — the worst Gallup has measured in this trend dating to 1992.
Americans’ opinions of the Republican Party improved in late 2009 and early 2010 before falling back in a May 2010 poll, but have steadily improved since then.
The Republican Party’s image remained negative over the next two years as the economy worsened, except for a 47%-47% reading after the party’s well-received national convention in 2008, which ended days before the financial crisis intensified. Just after Americans elected Barack Obama to replace Bush later that year, the Republicans’ net-favorable score was -27 (34% favorable, 61% unfavorable) — the worst Gallup has measured in this trend dating to 1992.
Americans’ opinions of the Republican Party improved in late 2009 and early 2010 before falling back in a May 2010 poll, but have steadily improved since then.
