Americans Have Negative Opinions of Many Political Leaders and Both Parties in Congress

Americans Have Negative Opinions of Many Political Leaders and Both Parties in Congress

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However, over half of Americans give Secretary Clinton positive ratings

Nov 15, 2011, 06:04 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As President Obama struggles to raise his own job approval numbers, he is not alone in being in negative territory. With two exceptions, other leaders in Washington are also viewed more negatively than positively. One exception is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A majority of Americans (52%) give positive ratings to the overall job she is doing while three in ten (31%) give her negative marks. This is, however, lower than the last time this question was asked in May when three in five (61%) gave her positive marks and one-quarter (26%) gave her negative ratings.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100517/NY06256LOGO )

The other figure who is more positive than negative is Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. In his first showing on this survey since assuming office, more Americans give him positive ratings than negative (20% vs. 17%). But the larger issue is that almost two-thirds of Americans (64%) are not familiar enough with the Defense Secretary to have an opinion of the job he is doing.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,463 adults surveyed online between October 10 and 17, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

All other political figures, as well as the two parties in general in Congress, have negative ratings. Specifically:

Almost half of Americans (46%) give Vice President Joe Biden negative ratings while three in ten (30%) give him positive ratings and one-quarter (24%) are not familiar enough to have an opinion;
One-third of U.S. adults (32%) have a negative opinion of the job Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is doing, just one in ten (11%) have a positive opinion and over half (57%) are not familiar enough with him;
Looking at another economic figure, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, one-third of Americans (33%) have a negative opinion of the job he is doing, 19% give him positive marks and half (48%) are not familiar enough with him to have an opinion;
Two in five Americans (43%) give Speaker of the House John Boehner negative ratings, 17% give him positive marks and two in five (40%) are not familiar enough to have an opinion;
Looking at the two Democratic Congressional leaders, over half of Americans (54%) give House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi negative ratings, while 18% give her positive marks and 28% are not familiar with her. Two in five U.S. adults (42%) give Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid negative ratings, 10% give him positive ratings and almost half (47%) are not familiar enough with him to have an opinion; and,
At the bottom of this group are the political parties in Congress. Over half of Americans have negative opinions of both Republicans in Congress (53%) and Democrats in Congress (54%).

So What?

Secretaries of State have always enjoyed some of the best ratings among all political leaders, regardless of party. This may be that since they are not involved in domestic issues, they are not blamed for dissatisfaction with things at home, including frustrations about the economy. The rest of these leaders are not as lucky and here is another possible indication that the election next fall may be one where the unhappiness with this larger group of people comes to the surface. The result could be an election where it's not that one party or the other loses, but incumbents lose.

TABLE 1 FAMILIARITY WITH SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS, CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "Are you familiar enough with each of the following to have an opinion regarding them?" Base: All adults
	FAMILIAR
	2009							2010				2011
	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept	Dec	Jan	Mar	June	Oct	Jan	May	Oct
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton	85	83	83	81	82	82	82	82	81	81	81	81	87	83
Vice President Joe Biden	70	67	69	68	71	70	72	67	72	71	72	71	78	76
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi	68	65	66	66	67	69	71	68	69	69	72	69	75	72
Democrats in Congress	66	64	64	65	68	69	67	71	68	68	67	66	66	67
Republicans in Congress	62	61	59	58	63	65	64	66	67	64	64	63	62	66
House Speaker John Boehner	37	N/a	37	N/a	27	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	37	48	54	60
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	32	N/a	N/a	N/a	39	N/a	44	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	53	53
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke	42	43	43	41	44	48	N/a	N/a	49	45	48	45	51	52
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner	35	44	41	39	43	42	43	43	43	39	41	40	43	43
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	36

Note: N/a indicates not asked; In January 2011 Nancy Pelosi became House Minority Leader (from House Speaker) and John Boehner became House Speaker (from House Minority Leader).

TABLE 2 RATINGS OF SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS, CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "How would you rate the overall job each of the following is doing?" Base: All adults
	Positive*	Excellent	Pretty Good	Negative**	Only Fair	Poor	Not Familiar
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton	52	16	36	31	19	12	17
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta	20	3	17	17	11	5	64
Vice President Joe Biden	30	5	25	46	22	24	24
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke	19	3	16	33	17	16	48
House Speaker John Boehner	17	3	14	43	20	23	40
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner	11	1	10	32	14	18	57
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi	18	3	14	54	19	35	28
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	10	2	8	42	15	27	47
Republicans in Congress	13	2	11	53	21	32	34
Democrats in Congress	12	2	11	54	23	31	33

*Positive = excellent or pretty good **Negative = only fair or poor; In January 2011 Nancy Pelosi became House Minority Leader (from House Speaker) and John Boehner became House Speaker (from House Minority Leader).

TABLE 3 RATING OF VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN - TREND How would you rate the job Vice-President Joe Biden is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	30	46	24
	May	%	35	43	22
	Jan.	%	33	39	29
2010	Oct.	%	26	46	28
	June	%	26	45	29
	March	%	29	44	28
	Jan.	%	28	39	33
2009	Dec.	%	30	42	28
	Sept.	%	30	41	30
	Aug.	%	33	38	29
	June	%	30	38	32
	May	%	32	36	31
	April	%	34	32	33
	March	%	35	35	30

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 4 RATING OF SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON – TREND How would you rate the job Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	52	31	17
	May	%	61	26	13
	Jan.	%	50	31	19
2010	Oct.	%	48	32	19
	June	%	45	35	19
	March	%	48	33	19
	Jan.	%	49	33	18
2009	Dec.	%	48	34	18
	Sept.	%	48	34	18
	Aug.	%	51	31	18
	June	%	47	34	19
	May	%	50	33	17
	April	%	51	32	17
	March	%	49	36	15

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 6 RATING OF TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER – TREND How would you rate the job Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	11	32	57
	May	%	17	27	57
	Jan.	%	14	26	60
2010	Oct.	%	12	29	59
	June	%	10	29	61
	March	%	13	30	57
	Jan.	%	14	29	57
2009	Dec.	%	15	29	57
	Sept.	%	16	26	58
	Aug.	%	17	26	57
	June	%	15	24	61
	May	%	16	26	59
	April	%	18	26	56
	March	%	11	24	65

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 7 RATING OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI – TREND How would you rate the job House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	18	54	28
	May	%	24	51	25
	Jan.	%	22	48	31
2010	Oct.	%	19	52	28
	June	%	20	49	31
	March	%	16	52	31
	Jan.	%	18	50	32
2009	Dec.	%	22	49	29
	Sept.	%	20	49	31
	Aug.	%	19	48	33
	June	%	18	49	34
	May	%	21	45	34
	April	%	21	44	35
	March	%	23	45	32

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding; until January 2011 Nancy Pelosi was House Speaker.

TABLE 8 RATING OF HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER – TREND How would you rate the job House Speaker John Boehner is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	17	43	40
	May	%	22	32	46
	Jan.	%	22	27	52
2010	Oct.	%	12	25	63
2009	Aug.	%	8	19	73
2009	March	%	9	16	75

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding; Until January 2011 John Boehner was House Minority Leader.

TABLE 9 RATING OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID – TREND How would you rate the job Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	10	42	47
2011	May	%	17	36	47
2009	Dec.	%	11	33	56
	Aug.	%	10	29	61
	March	%	12	26	61

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 10 RATING OF FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE – TREND How would you rate the job Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	19	33	48
	May	%	22	29	49
	Jan.	%	20	25	55
2010	Oct.	%	20	28	52
	June	%	17	29	55
	March	%	21	28	51
2009	Sept.	%	25	23	52
	Aug.	%	20	24	56
	June	%	18	23	59
	May	%	19	24	57
	April	%	20	23	57
	March	%	14	28	58

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding

TABLE 11 RATING OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS – TREND How would you rate the job the Democrats in Congress are doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	12	54	33
	May	%	18	48	34
	Jan.	%	19	47	34
2010	Oct.	%	16	51	33
	June	%	14	54	32
	March	%	14	54	32
	Jan.	%	17	54	29
2009	Dec.	%	18	50	33
	Sept.	%	18	51	31
	Aug.	%	21	47	32
	June	%	21	43	35
	May	%	25	39	36
	April	%	22	42	36
	March	%	25	41	34

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 12 RATING OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS – TREND How would you rate the job the Republicans in Congress are doing?" Base: All adults
			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	Oct.	%	13	53	34
	May	%	18	44	38
	Jan.	%	20	44	37
2010	Oct.	%	14	51	36
	June	%	11	52	36
	March	%	16	51	33
	Jan.	%	16	50	34
2009	Dec.	%	14	50	36
	Sept.	%	11	54	35
	Aug.	%	12	52	37
	June	%	12	46	42
	May	%	14	45	41
	April	%	14	48	39
	March	%	15	47	38

*Excellent or pretty good. **Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between October 10 and 17, 2011 among 2,463 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

J40806

Q1225, 1228

The Harris Poll^® #118, November 15, 2011

By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll, Public Relations and Youth Research, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Press Contact:
Corporate Communications
Harris Interactive
212-539-9600
[email protected]

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TABLE 5

RATING OF DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA – TREND

How would you rate the job Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is doing?"

Base: All adults

Negative**

Not Familiar