Poll: Obama earning high marks
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama gets soaring marks for his handling of the transition and his choices for the Cabinet, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, even at a time the public is downbeat over the economy.
More than three of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, approve of the job Obama has done so far — broad-based support he'll need as he faces tough decisions ahead.
By 69%-25%, those surveyed approve of his pick of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Democratic primary rival, as secretary of State.
By an even wider margin, 80%-14%, they favor his decision to ask President Bush's Pentagon chief, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to stay on the job.
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Americans are "projecting their hopes" for the new president, says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies polling, though they will expect concrete results to follow.
"He'll have a season of good will," Franklin says, but over time "it's going to become increasingly Obama's economy rather than Bush's economy."
On Tuesday, Obama met with the nation's governors in Philadelphia — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP's vice presidential nominee in last month's election, sat in a back row — and asked their help in designing a recovery plan. "We want to figure out what works" without being "hampered by ideology," he said.
The National Bureau of Economic Research announced Monday that the economy has been in a recession for a year.
In the poll, Americans by more than 3-1 say they trust Obama more than Bush to handle the economy. By 58%-33%, they support Obama's plan for a huge spending package to spur economic growth.
The survey of 1,010 adults, taken Monday by landline and cellphone, has a margin of error of +/— 3 percentage points.
There's little concern Obama is relying too much on veterans of President Clinton's administration. By nearly 4-1, those polled predict the officials will make the incoming team more effective, not less so.
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