After the Grand Clong (defined by legendary advance man Jerry Bruno as the feeling of “a million pounds of [excrement] rushing to your heart”) experienced by many Democrats yesterday with the release of a new ABC/WaPo poll showing all sorts of bad trends for Obama, for Obamacare, and for the Donkey Party, there was relief in those same precincts today at a more beneficent survey from NBC/WSJ.
The new poll has Obama’s job approval rating actually improving a few points from last month; his personal favorability rating moving above water for the first time since the launch of the health.gov site last October; and even Obamacare itself looking slightly more popular. On the other hand, Ds are tied with Rs in the generic congressional ballot, never a good sign for Democrats.
If the new poll is slightly positive for Obama, it’s really bad for one of his possible successors, Jeb Bush, whose favorable/unfavorable rating is a dismal 21/32. By contrast, Hillary Clinton’s ratio is 48/32. Yes, it’s one early poll, but to the extent that Jeb’s presumed “electability” is his chief asset among Republicans, his public opinion troubles, like those of fellow GOP Establishment icon Chris Christie, it’s a potentially deadly “invisible primary” data point.
