Hillary Clinton's and Robert Gates' Ratings Improve

A result of Bin Laden's death?

News provided by

Jun 02, 2011, 06:04 ET

NEW YORK, June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Harris Poll finds that public attitudes to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have improved over the last few months. Both are more highly rated now than at any time since they took office. They both enjoy better than 2-to-1 favorable ratings among those who are familiar enough with them to rate them. The poll also finds that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's positive ratings have improved, but many people are not familiar with him and, among those who are, his ratings are still negative by almost 2-to-1. The poll rates nine leaders in Washington and the Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Only Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates receive more positive than negative ratings.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100517/NY06256LOGO )

Harris last asked these questions in January, so we can only speculate as to when and why these changes occurred. As in our previous polls, many people are not familiar enough with some of the leaders to rate them at all; 57% cannot rate Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and more than 45% cannot rate Robert Gates, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,184 adults surveyed online between May 9 and 16, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

The main findings of the poll include:

Hillary Clinton's ratings are now 61% positive, 26% negative, up from 50% to 31% in January. This is the first time since she took office that her positive ratings are above 51%. She continues to be by far the most popular leader in Washington;
Vice-President Joe Biden's ratings are 35% positive, 43% negative, compared to 33%-39% in January;
Robert Gates' ratings are now 37% positive, 16% negative, compared to 30%-18% in January. But almost half (47%) of all adults are not familiar enough with him "to have an opinion about him";
Tim Geithner's ratings are 17% positive, 27% negative with most people (57%) still not familiar with him;
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ratings are 17% positive, 36% negative compared to 11%-33% in January;
House Speaker John Boehner's ratings are 22% positive, 32% negative compared to 22%-27% in January;
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's ratings are now 24% positive and 51% negative, compared to 22%-48% in January; and,
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's ratings are now 22% positive, 29% negative, compared to 20%-25% in January.

Both parties in Congress are still overwhelmingly unpopular: the Democrats' ratings are 18% positive, 48% negative, and the Republicans' 18% positive, 44% negative.

So What?

While we do not have data to explain why Secretaries Clinton and Gates have seen a sharp improvement in their ratings, a plausible hypothesis is that these improvements are a result of the successful SEAL attack on Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

This poll, like its predecessors, finds very large numbers of people who are not familiar enough with some very important cabinet members and other Washington leaders. This supports our belief that most people do not follow national news about government and politics. Many people are much more likely to follow the lives of the best known celebrities, movie and TV stars, athletes and singers than the actions of the leading movers and shakers in the nation's capitol. However this ignorance does not prevent many of them from having very strong opinions about government, government policies and politicians in general.

TABLE 1 FAMILIARITY WITH SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS, CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "Are you familiar enough with each of the following to have an opinion regarding them?" Base: All adults

	FAMILIAR
	2009							2010				2011
	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept	Dec	Jan	Mar	June	Oct	Jan.	May
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton	85	83	83	81	82	82	82	82	81	81	81	81	87
Vice President Joe Biden	70	67	69	68	71	70	72	67	72	71	72	71	78
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi	68	65	66	66	67	69	71	68	69	69	72	69	75
Democrats in Congress	66	64	64	65	68	69	67	71	68	68	67	66	66
Republicans in Congress	62	61	59	58	63	65	64	66	67	64	64	63	62
House Speaker John Boehner	37	N/a	37	N/a	27	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	37	48	54
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	32	N/a	N/a	N/a	39	N/a	44	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	53
Defense Secretary Robert Gates	40	44	43	42	45	46	49	47	48	44	47	47	53
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke	42	43	43	41	44	48	N/a	N/a	49	45	48	45	51
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner	35	44	41	39	43	42	43	43	43	39	41	40	43

Note: N/a indicates not asked; In January 2011 Nancy Pelosi became House Minority Leader (from House Speaker) and John Boehner became House Speaker (from House Minority Leader).

TABLE 2 RATINGS OF SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS, CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "How would you rate the overall job each of the following is doing?" Base: All adults

	Positive*	Excellent	Pretty Good	Negative**	Only Fair	Poor	Not Familiar
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton	61	22	39	26	17	10	13
Defense Secretary Robert Gates	37	10	27	16	11	5	47
Vice President Joe Biden	35	10	26	43	22	21	22
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke	22	5	17	29	16	13	49
House Speaker John Boehner	22	5	17	32	17	15	46
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner	17	4	12	27	11	15	57
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi	24	5	19	51	17	34	25
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	17	4	13	36	14	22	47
Republicans in Congress	18	3	15	44	19	24	38
Democrats in Congress	18	4	13	48	22	26	34

Positive = excellent or pretty good *Negative = only fair or poor; In January 2011 Nancy Pelosi became House Minority Leader (from House Speaker) and John Boehner became House Speaker (from House Minority Leader).

TABLE 3 RATING OF VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN - TREND How would you rate the job Vice-President Joe Biden is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	35	43	22
2011	Jan.	%	33	39	29
2010	Oct.	%	26	46	28
	June	%	26	45	29
	March	%	29	44	28
	Jan.	%	28	39	33
2009	Dec.	%	30	42	28
	Sept.	%	30	41	30
	Aug.	%	33	38	29
	June	%	30	38	32
	May	%	32	36	31
	April	%	34	32	33
	March	%	35	35	30

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 4 RATING OF SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON – TREND How would you rate the job Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	61	26	13
2011	Jan.	%	50	31	19
2010	Oct.	%	48	32	19
	June	%	45	35	19
	March	%	48	33	19
	Jan.	%	49	33	18
2009	Dec.	%	48	34	18
	Sept.	%	48	34	18
	Aug.	%	51	31	18
	June	%	47	34	19
	May	%	50	33	17
	April	%	51	32	17
	March	%	49	36	15

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 5 RATING OF DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES – TREND How would you rate the job Defense Secretary Robert Gates is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	37	16	47
2011	Jan.	%	30	18	53
2010	Oct.	%	27	20	53
	June	%	23	20	56
	March	%	27	21	52
	Jan.	%	26	21	53
2009	Dec.	%	28	21	51
	Sept.	%	28	18	54
	Aug.	%	28	17	55
	June	%	28	13	58
	May	%	28	15	57
	April	%	30	14	56
	March	%	27	13	60

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 6 RATING OF TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER – TREND How would you rate the job Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	17	27	57
2011	Jan.	%	14	26	60
2010	Oct.	%	12	29	59
	June	%	10	29	61
	March	%	13	30	57
	Jan.	%	14	29	57
2009	Dec.	%	15	29	57
	Sept.	%	16	26	58
	Aug.	%	17	26	57
	June	%	15	24	61
	May	%	16	26	59
	April	%	18	26	56
	March	%	11	24	65

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 7 RATING OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI – TREND How would you rate the job House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	24	51	25
2011	Jan.	%	22	48	31
2010	Oct.	%	19	52	28
	June	%	20	49	31
	March	%	16	52	31
	Jan.	%	18	50	32
2009	Dec.	%	22	49	29
	Sept.	%	20	49	31
	Aug.	%	19	48	33
	June	%	18	49	34
	May	%	21	45	34
	April	%	21	44	35
	March	%	23	45	32

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding; until January 2011 Nancy Pelosi was House Speaker.

TABLE 8 RATING OF HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER – TREND How would you rate the job House Speaker John Boehner is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	22	32	46
2011	Jan.	%	22	27	52
2010	Oct.	%	12	25	63
2009	Aug.	%	8	19	73
2009	March	%	9	16	75

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding; Until January 2011 John Boehner was House Minority Leader.

TABLE 9 RATING OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID – TREND How would you rate the job Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	17	36	47
2009	Dec.	%	11	33	56
	Aug.	%	10	29	61
	March	%	12	26	61

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 10 RATING OF FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE – TREND How would you rate the job Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	22	29	49
2011	Jan.	%	20	25	55
2010	Oct.	%	20	28	52
	June	%	17	29	55
	March	%	21	28	51
2009	Sept.	%	25	23	52
	Aug.	%	20	24	56
	June	%	18	23	59
	May	%	19	24	57
	April	%	20	23	57
	March	%	14	28	58

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding

TABLE 11 RATING OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS – TREND How would you rate the job the Democrats in Congress are doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	18	48	34
2011	Jan.	%	19	47	34
2010	Oct.	%	16	51	33
	June	%	14	54	32
	March	%	14	54	32
	Jan.	%	17	54	29
2009	Dec.	%	18	50	33
	Sept.	%	18	51	31
	Aug.	%	21	47	32
	June	%	21	43	35
	May	%	25	39	36
	April	%	22	42	36
	March	%	25	41	34

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

TABLE 12 RATING OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS – TREND How would you rate the job the Republicans in Congress are doing?" Base: All adults

			Positive*	Negative**	Not Familiar
2011	May	%	18	44	38
2011	Jan.	%	20	44	37
2010	Oct.	%	14	51	36
	June	%	11	52	36
	March	%	16	51	33
	Jan.	%	16	50	34
2009	Dec.	%	14	50	36
	Sept.	%	11	54	35
	Aug.	%	12	52	37
	June	%	12	46	42
	May	%	14	45	41
	April	%	14	48	39
	March	%	15	47	38

Excellent or pretty good. *Only fair or poor. Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between May 9 to 16, 2011 among 2,184 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.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

J40013

Q1230, 1232

The Harris Poll® #66, June 2, 2011

By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Press Contact:
Corporate Communications
Harris Interactive
212-539-9600
[email protected]

SOURCE Harris Interactive