Attitude Towards Administration Drift Downwards

Congress` ratings also drop
ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(Business Wire)--
Across the board, attitudes towards some of the key players in the Obama
Administration as well as the parties in Congress have declined since last
month. The only person to avoid a decline in positive job rating is Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, as just over one-quarter of Americans (28%) give him a
positive rating again this month while 13% give him a negative rating (down from
15% last month), but over half (58%) are not familiar enough with him to form an
opinion.

These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll®,a new nationwide surveyof
2,177 U.S. adults surveyed online between June 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris
Interactive®.

Leaders Ratings

The ratings of other individual leaders in the government vary greatly:

* Hillary Clinton is rated 47% positive and 34% negative with 19% not familiar
enough with her to have an opinion. This is down from last month when half of
Americans (50%) rated her positively;
* Joe Biden is rated more negative (38%) than positive (30%). This is down from
last month when his ratings were 32% positive and 36% negative;
* John Roberts is rated 21% positive and 15% negative, but most people (63%)
don`t have an opinion about him;
* Nancy Pelosi is rated the worse of those individuals measured, with only 18%
of people having a positive rating for her and almost half of Americans (49%)
negative. This is down from last month when it was 21% positive and 45%
negative;
* Tim Geithner is rated more negative (24%) than positive (14%), but most people
(61%) don`t have an opinion about him; and,
* Ben Bernanke is also unfamiliar to most people (59%) and is rated somewhat
more negative (23%) than positive (18%) ratings.

Congressional Ratings

One thing which continues to hold steady is the strong negative feelings towards
Congress. Three-quarters of Americans (75%) give Congress a negative job rating
and only 25% give them a positive rating. Congress is now at its lowest job
ratings for the year. The individual parties are not faring any better. Just two
in five Americans (21%) have a positive rating for the Democrats in Congress
with 43% giving negative ratings and 35% saying they are not familiar enough to
have an opinion. Republicans in Congress fare even worse - 12% give them
positive ratings while 46% give Republicans negative ones and 42% are not
familiar enough to rate them.

So What?

While President Obama`s ratings are still positive, we have seen them move
downward. The overall trend seems to be moving towards more negative feelings by
Americans to their political leaders and Congress. For Congress, the very brief
honeymoon they had earlier this year seems to be over and the administration
seems to be ending their honeymoon period. There was a sense of optimism and
hope, but the length of time that it may still last seems to be shrinking.

Methodology

The Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States June 8 and 15,
2009, among 2,177 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where
necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the
population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents`
propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at
www.harrisinteractive.com.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.

J36306

Q1220, 1225, 1230

The Harris Poll®#69, June 29, 2009

By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and
rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we
assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients
globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of
independent market research firms. For more information, please visit
www.harrisinteractive.com.

Harris Interactive Inc. 6/09

Harris Interactive
Carol Fricke, 585-272-8400
press@harrisinteractive.net

Copyright Business Wire 2009