A new Gallup poll has good news for President Obama: 71% of Americans have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence that Obama will do the right thing for the economy.
That number compares favorably to other major figures in government, including Fed Chair Ben Bernanke (49%), Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (47%), Democrats in Congress (51%), and Republicans in Congress (38%).
Obama gets sky-high marks from Democrats, with 97% saying they have a great deal/fair amount of confidence in him. 67% of independents say the same thing; just 27% of Republicans do.
And this is interesting, from the Gallup write-up: “The partisan ratings of Bernanke have shifted from last year, when he was serving under a Republican president. At that time, the Fed chairman received a 61% confidence rating from Republicans, 43% from independents, and just a 40% rating from Democrats.” As you can see below, those numbers have just about flipped:
A CBS/NY Times poll from last week found similar confidence in Obama. The Gallup poll has a margin of error of +/- 3%