Executive Summary

With the 2006 mid-term elections over and Democrats going into 2007 on a high, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Public Opinion Strategies conducted the latest in our series of bipartisan polls for National Public Radio. The survey of 800 voters fielded December 7-10 and has a margin of error of +/-3.46 percent. The results and broadcast can also be found at www.npr.org, although neither NPR nor POS are responsible for the comments below.

The survey finds voters are still angry at Republicans. Opinion toward the GOP is at the lowest point in history and voters' mood on the direction of the country is also at a record low.

While opinion about the Democrats is more positive - the party records its warmest thermometer score in the past two years and an 18 point lead in the generic presidential vote in this survey - voters want Democrats to run the 110th Congress in a very different way, prioritizing bi-partisanship and getting things done for the good of the country.

Iraq continues to be the leading concern for voters and our survey finds the public skeptical about achieving stability in Iraq. While a sizable plurality of 44 percent say Iraq will be less stable if the US begins to withdraw troops during the first half of 2007, nearly two-thirds favor withdrawing from Iraq during the first half of 2007 regardless.

Methodology:

These results are based on a bi-partisan survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in conjunction with Public Opinion Strategies for National Public Radio. The survey fielded December 7, 9-10, 2006. It has a sample size of 800 likely voters and a margin of error of +/-3.46 percent. The survey was fielded by Public Opinion Strategies.

Key Findings

• President Bush's approval ratings remain low with only four-in-ten approving of his job performance.
• Voters’ dissatisfaction with the direction of the country reached a new peak as only one-quarter of voters say the country is heading in the right direction - an all-time low for the NPR national poll.
• Heading into the 2008 election, Democrats hold a 17-point advantage in the generic presidential vote, 45 to 28 percent. 
  
• Opinion of the Republican party has worsened. Currently 46 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the party. The November election helped Democrats improve their standing as this poll records the highest percentage of favorable feelings toward the Democratic party in the past two years.