Rasmussen... Obama less partisan than Congress

From Rasmussen Reports…

Partisan Politics

Voters See Obama As Less Partisan Than Those in Congress

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Following the Bush tax cut deal and the passage of the START nuclear treaty in the recently ended lame duck session of Congress, most voters continue to believe congressional Republicans and Democrats are behaving in a partisan manner, but the number who believe President Obama is governing like a partisan Democrat has fallen below 50% for the first time since May 2009.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 31% of Likely Voters believe the president is governing on a bipartisan basis, up four points from earlier this month but similar to results found for most of his presidency so far. Forty-eight percent (48%), however, now say Obama is governing like a partisan Democrat, down five points from last month and the lowest level measured in 19 months. Twenty-one percent (21%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Just after Obama took office in January 2009, 42% believed he was governing on a bipartisan basis. But starting in March, that number that never rose above 40% again. Prior to the latest survey, the number who believe Obama is governing as a partisan Democrat ranged from 51% to 56% in 2010.

While 46% of Democrats believe the president is governing in a bipartisan fashion, 69% of Republicans take the opposing view. Just over half of voters not affiliated with either major political party (51%) believe the president is acting partisan. While 60% of Political Class voters believe the president is governing on a bipartisan basis, roughly the same number of Mainstream voters (60%) feels the opposite way.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of all voters believe congressional Republicans are acting on a bipartisan basis, while 54% say they’re acting like partisan Republicans. Twenty-five percent (25%) are not sure. These numbers are virtually identical to those found earlier this month and comparable to findings for months.

Even more voters (61%) believe congressional Democrats are acting in a partisan manner, while just 18% believe they are acting on a bipartisan basis. Another 21% are not sure. The number who believes Democrats are acting bipartisan is at its lowest level since June of last year.

Overall, 54% of voters believe Washington will become more partisan over the next year. Twenty-three percent (23%) believe it will grow more bipartisan. Those numbers are little changed from last month. Voters were more optimistic about partisanship in Washington immediately following Election Day.

Following the big GOP wins on Election Day, 68% of voters say it’s at least somewhat likely the next president after Obama will be a Republican. That’s down slightly from earlier this month when that number reached its highest level since regular tracking began on the question in January 2009.

Twenty percent (20%) say it's not very or not all likely that the next president will be a Republican. It is important to note that the question does not indicate whether that next president will be elected in 2012 or 2016.

Many Americans feel the two sides aren’t working hard enough to get along in Washington.

Republicans hold a five-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Forty-one percent (41%) think Republicans benefited most from the congressional redistricting required by the new Census results, while just 14% think Democrats came out on top. Thirty percent (30%) say both parties benefited equally, but 15% more are not sure.

The current session of Congress finally closed its doors this past week with voters remaining largely as critical of it as they have been for months.