Views on Boehner, Obama sink during government shutdown, poll finds
Amid the government shutdown, about half the nation now has an unfavorable view of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, a new Gallup survey finds.
The speaker's net favorability rating is 24 points lower than it was in April, according to Gallup. While 51 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Boehner, 27 percent have a favorable few.
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President Obama's net favorability rating has also taken a hit, dropping 10 points since September. While both Democrats and Republicans now view the president less favorably than before the shutdown, he took the biggest hit among independents -- his net favorability rating fell 224 points with that group. Currently, the nation's views of Mr. Obama are split, with 49 percent viewing him favorably and 49 percent unfavorably.
The latest figures come from Gallup's Oct. 3-6 poll, which sampled 1,028 adults nationwide. It has a margin of error of four points.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also saw his net favorability rating drop post-shutdown by 12 points since April. Congressional Democratic leaders, meanwhile, fared better: The net favorability rating for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dropped by just five points since April, while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., actually saw her net favorability rating increase by five points since April.
As the shutdown dragged on through its 10th day on Thursday, President Obama met with Democrats and Republicans in separate White House meetings.
Following a meeting with House Republicans, the two sides seemed committed to keep negotiations going, even though they appeared to disagree over a GOP proposal to raise the debt limit for six weeks.
"After a discussion about potential paths forward, no specific determination was made," the White House said in a statement after the meeting. "The President looks forward to making continued progress with members on both sides of the aisle. The President's goal remains to ensure we pay the bills we've incurred, reopen the government and get back to the business of growing the economy, creating jobs and strengthening the middle class."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters the meeting was productive.
"We had a very useful meeting. It was clarifying, I think, to both sides as to where we are," he said.
