NPR Poll Shows Total Rejection of Obama, Scares Democrats

June 21, 2010 (LPAC)—A new poll for National Public Radio, of 70 "competitive" Congressional districts around the country, shows dreadful results for Barack Obama and increasingly chilling prospects for House Democrats in November.

The June 7-10 poll (by Republican pollster Glen Bolger and Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg) surveyed 30 "highly competitive" districts around the country held by House Democrats, 30 "competitive but not toss-up" Democrat-held districts, and 10 "competitive" GOP-held districts. Across the board, generic party preference had shifted to the GOP for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The voters' view of Obama was decidedly negative: 53% of all the voters disapproved of his job performance, while 43% approved. In the Democratic districts alone it was disastrous: 54% disapproval against 40% approval; and 57% in those Democratic districts blamed Obama's economic policies for producing record deficits while failing to slow job loss.

"It's very problematic for the president to have a 40% approval rating in these 60 Democratic districts," said Bolger. "When you look at history, when the president is below 50% nationally, his party tends to lose more than 40 seats" (i.e., enough for Democrats to lose the House).