WaPo-ABC Tracking Poll: High Marks for President Obama on Hurricane Sandy Response
WaPo-ABC Tracking Poll: High Marks for President Obama on Hurricane Sandy Response
Nearly eight in 10 likely voters say the president has done an “excellent” or “good” job dealing with what’s been labeled a “super storm.” Almost as many give positive reviews to the federal government’s response generally. Even two-thirds of those who support Republican Mitt Romney in next week’s presidential election say Obama is doing well in this area.
The results for the hurricane response question are from interviews Tuesday evening, one of the four “waves” of interviews in the current release from the Post-ABC tracking poll. The one-night margin of sampling error is plus or minus six percentage points. As was the case Tuesday, responses in the Northeast across a range of demographic and political variables were on par with those throughout the tracking poll, which started Oct. 18.
Averaging across the most recent four waves, the presidential contest itself is back to a tie, with Obama and Romney each supported by 49 percent of likely voters.
Likely voters’ also remain evenly divided in their assessments of Obama’s overall job performance: 50 percent approve of the way he is handling the presidency; 49 percent disapprove. The stability of these numbers — and of the presidential contest — make it unlikely that high ratings on handling the storm damage will move the needle on either front, but 70 percent of those who give Obama negative marks generally give him positive marks on the hurricane.