Obama Rides Wave of Popular Support

Heading into President Obama's quasi State of the Union Address Tuesday night, the national mood was definitely in his favor. The country was ready to trust him on a recovery plan. They wanted him to pursue the agenda he campaigned on and prioritized that much higher than working with Republicans. After the speech, those sentiments had only increased. Obama laid out a massively ambitious set of issues and seems set to move on multiple fronts while the public's support is high.

On this link you can find the results of the pre-address New York Times/CBS News poll. Reception for the speech itself, based on a scientifically selected sample of 534 watchers by CBS News can be found here.

Here are some key findings before the speech. First, for Obama's overall job approval ratings, 63% approved, 22% disapproved and 15% weren't sure. The President definitely won the public perception contest over the stimulus package. 74% felt Obama was trying to work with Republicans but only 31% felt the Republicans were trying to work with him.

Even though 67% felt the recession would last at least two years more, 77% were optimistic for improvement during the next four years under Barack Obama. 65% felt Obama had the same priorities as they and 83% believed he cared about people like them. 77% felt he was trying to bring real change, and 76% were confident he would make the right decisions on the economy, even though 54% thought it might take two years or more to see real progress.

The public did not trust Obama's congressional opposition. Only 29% felt congressional Republicans opposed the stimulus out of genuine concern it would be bad for the economy. 63% felt their opposition was for "political reasons." When asked whether Obama ought to work in a bipartisan way or stick to the policies he promised in the campaign, 56% said stick with his promises and 39% said be bipartisan. On the other hand, a whopping 79% said congressional Republicans should be bipartisan while only 17% wanted them to stick to their campaign positions. It is pretty clear the American people no longer have confidence in Republican economic orthodoxy. 65% of the respondents WERE concerned about the increasing national debt, but 74% felt it was more important to combat the recession than deal with the debt right now.

Reaction after the speech accentuated the views already in evidence. 63% approved of Obama's plans for dealing with the economy before the speech. That rose to 80% after it. 71% had been optimistic about Obama's presidency beforehand and 80% after watching the address.

The Republican rebuttal delivered by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was panned by most observers. See the analysis of conservative columnist David Brooks on the Jim Lehrer show here. Not only were there bizarre references to volcanoes and Hurricane Katrina, but the overall message seemed to be the same tired mantra the electorate rejected by 9 million votes in November--the idea that no matter how bad things get the government ought to just sit on its hands and do nothing. With Obama's galvanizing blend of inspiration and intellect running up against this kind of opposition it would not be surprising to see further Democratic gains in the next election cycle. Without a message the public agrees with, the presence of mind to change it or credible messengers to deliver it, the GOP may have to continue to lose ground for some time more before it can hope to recover its fortunes.