Thursday, October 15, 2009

Is Hillary Now More Popular Than Obama?

At the very least, Hillary appears to be less unpopular than Obama:
a new national poll suggests that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now more popular than her boss, President Barack Obama.

A Gallup survey released Thursday indicates that 62 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of Clinton, 6 points higher than the 56 percent who view Obama favorably.

According to the poll, the president's favorable rating has dropped 22 points from its inaugural-month level in January. The survey indicates that Clinton's favorable rating has only edged down 3 points since the beginning of the year.
Neither politician has wowed Americans, but Clinton's drop in popularity is less than Obama's--not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Of course, this comes at a time that Clinton has publicly said that she has no intention of running again for president.

Then again, apparently it is not all that surprising that Clinton should poll better than Obama:
"This is a common pattern in recent polling," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice consistently had higher favorable ratings than George W. Bush. Madeleine Albright was more popular than Bill Clinton. Secretaries of State don't get blamed for economic problems or unpopular domestic policies, and they often don't get the same share of the blame as the commander-in-Chief for international slip-ups either."


Not surprisingly, Clinton polls better among Republicans--while Obama has dropped 41 points, Clinton has remained steady: less than 20% have a favorable view of Obama, while 35% have a positive view of Clinton. That could make Clinton a more attractive presidential candidate the next time around--and Hillary can afford to sit back and talk about eventually retiring from politics.

Regardless of what Clinton says about her presidential aspirations--as 2012 draws nearer, a perception of Hillary being more popular than Obama might make things intersting.

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