Americans Say Obama More Liberal Than They Are, But He Leads GOP 2012 Foes
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 12, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Two new polls out today show Americans believe pro-abortion President Barack Obama is more liberal than the beliefs they espouse. Yet they appear unwilling to support any of a slate of potential Republican presidential candidates over him in potential 2012 matchups.
Most voters in the country now believe President Obama and the average Democrat in Congress are more liberal, politically speaking, than they are — according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters.
The survey shows 57% of likely voters say Obama is more liberal than they are, and 56% say the same of the average Democratic member of Congress.
Twelve percent of voters say the president is more conservative than they are, and 13% think the same of the average Democrat in Congress. Just 26% of voters think Obama shares the same political views they have and only 23 percent say they about the pro-abortion Democrats who control Congress.
“It is remarkable how similar the response is to both the president and his party in Congress. While many in official Washington highlight the differences between the two, voters see a broadly consistent agenda," says pollster Scott Rasmussen.
Yet, the good news for Democrats is that only 26% also think the average Republican in Congress has about the same views politically as they do.
When it comes to the average GOP congressman, 42% of voters believe the GOP representatives are more conservative than they are while 24% say the GOP office holders are more liberal, the Rasmussen poll shows.
The survey found 40 percent voters view being described politically as a conservative as a positive description, while 16% see it as a negative. By comparison, 14% say being described as a political liberal is a positive, but 39% see it as a negative description.
These findings comes at the same time that 57% of voters believe the Democratic congressional agenda is extreme, while a plurality (45%) describes the Republican agenda as mainstream.
Despite those results, a survey conducted by the Public Policy Polling institute finds Obama leading some of the most frequently-named potential Republican candidates for 2012.
In a direct head to head between Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Obama leads 45-42 percent with the rest undecided.
As they have in other polls, Romney and pro-life former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee come closest against Obama and Huckabee trails the pro-abortion president 47-44 percent.
Obama leads pro-life former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin 49-43, pro-life former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 49-42, and pro-life New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 47-31.
Even though Obama has negative approval numbers with independents he leads every potential GOP foe with them, the poll shows.
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