These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
27% Say Hillary Would Be Better President Than Obama
Monday, November 2, 2009
Just 14% of U.S. voters say Hillary Clinton would be doing a worse job as president than Barack Obama if she had won last year's Democratic presidential nomination.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of voters think Clinton would be doing a better job as president while 49% say she would be performing about the same.
Democrats who think things would be different with Clinton are evenly divided between whether they'd be better or worse. Republicans and unaffiliated voters who think things would be different tend to believe Clinton would have done a better job as President.
Perhaps one explanation for this is that voters see Obama as more politically liberal than Clinton. Forty-nine percent (49%) say Clinton is a liberal, but 38% see her as a moderate. By comparison, 74% say Obama is a liberal, while just 20% view him as a moderate .
Voters are evenly divided as to whether Clinton would have had more influence if she stayed in the Senate rather than becoming secretary of State. Thirty-five percent (35%) say she would have had more influence, but 36% disagree. Twenty-nine percent (29%) aren't sure.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters at least somewhat approve of the job Clinton is doing as secretary of State while 37% disapprove. The new survey was taken as Clinton was making a high-profile but troubled visit to Pakistan. These numbers are unchanged since late July .
Most voters (54%) have a favorable opinion of Clinton, while 43% view her unfavorably. Twenty-four percent (24%) have a very favorable view, and just as many (23%) have a very unfavorable one. These numbers, too, have held steady from July.
Obama's overall job approval rating in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll fell below 50% for the first time in July. A month-by-month review of the president's ratings shows that they held steady in August and September before declining slightly last month .
Voters were almost evenly divided in late July over whether Clinton would challenge Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2012. Obama narrowly defeated Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, although the New York senator had been the early favorite to win.
With terrorist attacks an almost daily occurrence in Pakistan as troops there fight a widening Taliban front, 42% of all voters say it will be impossible for the United States to win the war in Afghanistan if Pakistan remains unstable .
Forty-five percent (45%) say it is possible for the United States to win the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan , but 29% do not and another 25% aren't sure. Still, most voters say no firm timetable should be set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
While 76% of GOP voters and 52% of unaffiliateds see Clinton as a political liberal, 61% of Democrats categorize her as a moderate. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of liberals think Clinton's a moderate, too.
"Liberal" is still the worst political label for a candidate as far as most voters are concerned . Being "like Reagan" remains the most positive thing you can say about a candidate.
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To view the original report, please use this link: Hillary Must Be Kvelling ....