Last week when CNN released polling that found Nancy Pelosi's approval rating to be above 50 percent and her disapproval rating in the low 20s,
I marvelled at her relative popularity, both in comparison with President Bush, whose approval rating was 16 points lower than hers in the polls, and with the last high-profile House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, whose approval spread at the same point in his tenure (January, 1995) was significantly lower at 39 approve/35 disaprove.
Of course one poll does not make a trend. It might not even, in and of itself, represent a reliable data point given the inherent potential for statistical error in representative surveys. For that reason, the release of two subsequent polls in recent days by well-established national pollsters showing similar results is rather newsworthy.
The latest
Washington Post/ABC News poll, in the field January 16 through 19 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, pegged Speaker Pelosi's approval rating at 54 percent, with just 25 percent disapproving. This compares with an 43 percent approval rating for Congress, overall (up 7 points from immediately before the election), President Bush's 33 percent approval rating (with 65 percent disapproving), and the 40 percent approval rating (and 48 percent disapproval rating) Newt Gingrich hit in the same poll in late January 1995 (or his high-water mark for the poll -- 41 percent approve/44 percent disapprove -- achieved twice in the summer of 1998).
Also in the field late last week (1/16-18; MoE +/- 3.0%) was an Ipsos poll commissioned by the Associated Press and
AOL News. Like
The Post/ABC poll, the AP/AOL poll found that many more Americans approve of Speaker Pelosi than do of the President, too. Specifically, 51 percent approve of Pelosi, with 34 percent disapproving, whereas just 36 percent approve of the President and 61 percent disapprove.
In short, it's clear that Nancy Pelosi is a widly popular Speaker of the House, her high ratings hitting historically high levels. And, just to echo
Markos, these numbers just underscore the fact that no one should pay heed to the Beltway bloviators who were so quick to write of Pelosi's Speakership back in December -- even before she was sworn in.
Below the fold... Do you approve of the job Nancy Pelosi is doing as Speaker of the House of Representatives?
