Poll: Half of Republicans disapprove of Boehner's "fiscal cliff" handling
In the aftermath of protracted and contentious negotiations over a plan to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff," a new poll from the Washington Post/ABC News indicates that Republicans were less than thrilled with how the dealmaking worked out.
According to the survey, conducted from Jan. 2-6, 52 percent of Republicans disapproved of how House Speaker John Boehner handled the negotiations. Forty-four percent of Republicans overall said they approved of the deal, while 42 percent disapproved.
Conservative Republicans and independents were particularly put off by Boehner's behavior: Sixty-one percent disapproved of his handling of the negotiations.
Democrats, meanwhile, were overwhelmingly supportive of Mr. Obama's performance in the negotiations, with 81 percent approving of how he handled the process.
Mr. Obama also fared better than Boehner when matched up head-to-head among all respondents: Fifty-two percent of all adults approved of how Mr. Obama dealt with the negotiations, while 27 percent disapproved; only 31 percent of all adults, meanwhile, approved of how Boehner brokered the deal, while 51 percent said the opposite.
Overall, more people approved than disapproved of the "fiscal cliff" agreement: 45 to 38 percent, with 17 percent undecided.
The push-and-pull between Mr. Obama and Boehner over budget negotiations has only just begun for the year: Congress will soon confront another battle over raising the debt ceiling, and Mr. Obama is expected to unveil his 2014 budget in February. According to the Hill, however, Boehner has already told his party he has no further plans to negotiate one-on-one with the president.
