Diageo/Hotline: Climbing Up On Solace-bury Hill
In the latest Diageo/Hotline poll, Dems in Congress remain popular among RVs while Congressional GOPers struggle for favorable ratings, even among members of their own party. Released this a.m., the second half of this month's survey shows a public feeling generally positive about the Dem brand despite neutral sentiments towards individual Dem leaders.
In the final release from this month's poll, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) rate basically neutral among RVs. Their fav/unfav ratings of 35%/35% (Pelosi) and 18%/20% (Reid) are, however, an improvement upon their respective 31%/40% and 12%/22% marks just after election day. Both Dems have slightly negative net ratings among Indies -- Pelosi at 29%/33% and Reid at 12%/17% -- as well as solid positives among Dems, 54%/14% for Pelosi and 27%/9% for Reid. GOPers, meanwhile, feel strongly unfavorable towards both leaders, in particular Pelosi with a 70% unfav rating.
Although lukewarm towards the leadership, 49% of RVs approve of Dems in Congress and 38% disapprove. Two in three Dems (68%) and a majority of Indies (52%) approve of Dems; among GOPers, just 22% approve of Congressional Dems, while 69% disapprove. GOPers in Congress do not fare quite as well as Dems, with just a fourth of RVs (26%) approving of their job performance. A majority of GOPers (51%), Indies (52%) and Dems (73%) do not approve of GOPers in Congress, and only 39% of GOPers approve.
Looking ahead to '10, Dems lead GOPers 46 to 22% on the generic congressional ballot. More than one-quarter of the electorate (26%) is undecided, including half (49%) of Indies. If the election was held today and all 26% undecideds voted GOP, GOPers would only be statistically tied with Dems on the ballot test.
The latest Diageo/Hotline poll, released in part yesterday, was conducted 1/21-24 by FD. The poll surveyed 800 RVs and has margin of error +/- 3.5%. Party ID breakdown for the survey is 40% Dem, 23% GOP and 30% Indie.
For Hotline subscribers, more details are available in yesterday's and today's Latest Edition.
(MATTHEW GOTTLIEB)