Quinnipiac Delivers Sobering Numbers for Obama Policies

Meredith Jessup | November 19, 2009 1:27 PM

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows the American public opposes Obama's health care plan by a growing margin of 51-35. I'd say this is bad news for the Democrats' agenda, but I'm afraid they don't really care what "we the people" think anymore.

Three-quarters of American voters – 74 percent – like President Barack Obama as a person, but only 47 percent like most of his policies, and voters disapprove 51 – 35 percent of the health care overhaul passed by the House of Representatives which he has endorsed, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

This overall approval of Obama's health care plan is down from 61-34 in early October.

"Most Americans like President Barack Obama and might like to have a beer with him," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "But millions of voters who sided with him last November because they thought he would bring change to Washington aren't crazy about the kind of change he is trying to bring."

"That is especially true of independent voters, many of whom used to be Republicans turned off by the Bush years. They may not yet have returned to their former political home, but many have concluded Obama isn't offering their kind of solutions," Brown added.