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."
Call Me Reagan, Don't Call Me Carter or George W.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Candidates, beware. If someone describes you as being like Ronald Reagan or even Bill Clinton, that's a good thing in the minds of many voters. Comparisons to Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush are not so good.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that nearly half (47%) of Likely U.S. Voters say it's a positive description if a political candidate is compared to Reagan. Twenty-two percent (22%) view it as a negative, while 28% think it's somewhere in between the two.
Forty percent (40%) say a comparison to Clinton is a positive, but 30% see it as a negative. For 29%, it's in between.
But just 19% consider it a positive description to say a candidate is like Carter. Forty-seven percent (47%) say that's a negative description. Twenty-nine percent (29%) rate as in between a positive and a negative.
Even worse is to be compared to Bush. Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters view that as a negative description for a candidate. Only 16% see it as a positive comparison. Thirty-one percent (31%) place it in the middle somewhere.
Bush also brings up the rear when voters are asked which president has done the best job since he left office. Clinton now leads with 36% rating his post-White House performance as the best. Carter's next with 25% support, down seven points from August 2009 when the man from Plains was first on the list. Seventeen percent (17%) think George H.W. Bush has been the best retired president, while 11% say that of his son, George W.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 22-23, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans, not surprisingly, consider being compared to Reagan a positive, and 73% of Democrats feel the same way about Clinton. But voters of their respective parties have decidedly mixed feelings about Bush and Carter.
The Political Class has distinctly different views of the ex-presidents than Mainstream voters do. For example, 56% of Mainstream voters consider a comparison to Reagan as a positive for a candidate, but 64% of those in the Political Class view it as a negative.
Similarly, 54% of the Political Class think comparing a candidate to Carter is a positive description. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of those in the Mainstream view that as a negative.
Political Class voters feel strongly that a comparison to Clinton is a positive and a comparison to Bush is a negative. Mainstream voters tend to see both as more negative than positive.
Among Political Class voters, 54% say Clinton's done the best job since leaving the White House, and 43% feel that way about Carter. Mainstream voters are inclined to rate all four ex-presidents about the same.
"Conservative" is still the most positive political label you can attach to a candidate. But voters now have stronger reactions--positive and negative-- to the Tea Party label than they do to the more traditional labels.
Being like Ronald Reagan has long been the most positive thing you can say about a candidate.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton , while 46% view him unfavorably.
Fifty percent (50%) still blame the country's current economic problems on the recession that began under the Bush administration rather than on the policies of President Obama.