Just In Time For The Sequester, Here Are Two Brutal New Polls For Republicans

Getty

President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit a three-plus-year high, while the approval rating of Congressional Republicans has sunk to a corresponding low, according to a new poll from Bloomberg.

The poll shows that Obama's approval rating has jumped to 55 percent, its highest point since September 2009 in Bloomberg's tracking. Meanwhile, only 35 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of Congressional Republicans, the lowest since September 2009.

Meanwhile, a new Pew Research Center poll finds similar numbers — Obama's approval rating sits at 51 percent, while only 25 percent of respondents approved of Congressional Republicans.

The polls come just more than a week before a series of cuts known as the sequester are set to begin kicking in. Obama and Republicans have spent the early part of the week battling over the cuts, as each side attempts to swing public opinion to its side before the cuts take effect.

These two surveys foreshadowed that Republicans will be to blame if the sequester goes into effect.

Here are some numbers from both polls that show why:

• According to the Pew poll, 49 percent would blame Republicans if the cuts take effect, compared with just 31 percent for Obama.
• In the Bloomberg poll, 49 percent said that Obama’s proposals for government spending on infrastructure, education, and alternative energy are more likely to create jobs than Republican proposals to cut spending and taxes.
• By a 49-43 margin, poll respondents said Republicans were more to blame for "what's gone wrong" in Washington.
• 76 percent say that Congress should work on a package of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce the deficit. Only 19 percent of Americans agree with Republicans that all tax increases should be off the table.

The Pew poll finds that across party lines, a vast majority of Americans — 70 percent — want Congress to pass major legislation to reduce the budget deficit.