Most of the Major Pieces of Legislation Signed by Obama Are Popular with Americans who Are Familiar with Them

But a sizable plurality gives negative ratings to the "new laws passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President" when they are considered together

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Harris Interactive

Feb 07, 2011, 09:27 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The results of a new Harris Poll are something of a paradox. When asked separately about seven of the most important bills that were passed by the last Congress, including those passed in the very productive lame duck session in December, majorities of those who are familiar with them rate each of them "good" rather than "bad". The three most popular bills, rated "good" by the most people who are familiar with them, are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88%), the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%), and the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%).

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However, when the public is shown the list of the seven bills and asked about them "all together", a substantial 61% to 39% majority of all adults rates them negatively. In an earlier question, before any of the specific bills were mentioned, a 46% to 33% plurality of all adults rated "the new laws passed over the last two years" negatively, with 21% not sure.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,566 adults surveyed online between January 17 and 24, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Some of the other interesting results of this poll are:

Familiarity with the 7 bills in the list varies greatly. Fully 80% of all adults are very or somewhat familiar with the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. 77% are familiar with the Health Care Reform bill. 72% are familiar with the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits. 68% are familiar with stimulus package of increased government spending and tax cuts. 56% are familiar with the 9/11 First Responders health care bill. But only 37% are familiar with the ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control bill, and only 39% are familiar with the Financial Regulation bill (the Dodd Frank Bill);
Approval of the bills by those who are very or somewhat familiar with them also varies greatly, with between 88% and 51% rating them "good" rather than "bad". The most popular bills are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88% good) and the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%). Also very popular are the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%), the ratification of Start 2 (67%), and the Financial Regulation bill (63%). The people familiar with the other two bills – the stimulus package and the Health Care Reform bill are split almost equally (51% to 49% for both) between those who think them good or bad;
Unsurprisingly there is a huge partisan split in attitudes to these pieces of legislation, with Republicans tending to be much more negative and Democrats much more positive about the legislation. However, large majorities of Republicans think that two of these pieces of legislation are "good" – the 9/11 First Responders bill (82%) and the extension of the Bush-era tax-cuts and unemployment benefits (89%). Large majorities of Republicans think that each of the other five pieces of legislation are "bad".

So What?

These findings suggest several conclusions about public opinion and how it is formed and influenced. One conclusion is that the big picture—how people feel overall—is not the sum of all the small pictures, or how people feel about the details. It is also clear that emotions tend to trump detailed analysis; rhetoric often trumps information; and that partisanship often trumps rational analysis. All of this confirms that Democracy is messy, and the truth of Churchill's famous remark that Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all of the others.

TABLE 1 RATING RECENT BILLS "A number of new laws were passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President in the last two years, including several that were passed in December. Overall, how would you rate the legislation that was passed?" Base: All adults
	Total	Political ID			Generation
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.	Echo Boomers (18-34)	Gen X (35-46)	Baby Boomers (47-65)	Matures (66+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Positive (NET)	33	8	59	29	37	27	33	34
Excellent	8	3	17	5	13	4	6	12
Pretty good	25	6	42	24	24	23	28	22
Negative (NET)	46	75	20	52	35	48	50	56
Only fair	23	29	16	27	19	28	25	23
Poor	23	46	5	26	16	21	25	32
Not at all sure	21	17	21	19	28	25	17	10
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

TABLE 2 FAMILIAR WITH RECENT BILLS "How familiar are you with each of the following bills that have been passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President in the last two years?" Base: All adults
	Familiar (NET)	Very familiar	Somewhat familiar	Not familiar (NET)	Not very familiar	Not at all familiar
	%	%	%	%	%	%
The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military	80	37	44	20	10	10
The Health Care Reform bill	77	33	44	23	14	9
The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits	72	31	41	28	15	14
The Stimulus Package of increased government spending and tax cuts	68	26	42	32	19	13
The 9/11 First Responders health care bill	56	22	35	44	22	21
The Financial Regulation bill	39	14	25	61	31	30
The ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control treaty	37	15	21	63	27	37
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

TABLE 3 RATING FAMILIAR BILLS "Overall do you think it is good or bad that each of these bills was passed?" Base: American adults who are familiar with each bill
	Good	Bad
	%	%
The 9/11 First Responders health care bill	88	12
The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits	73	27
The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military	68	32
The ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control treaty	67	33
The Financial Regulation bill	63	37
The Stimulus Package of increased government spending and tax cuts	51	49
The Health Care Reform bill	51	49
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

TABLE 4 RATING FAMILIAR BILLS "Overall do you think it is good or bad that each of these bills was passed?" Summary of those saying "good" Base: American adults who are familiar with each bill
	Total	Political ID			Generation
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.	Echo Boomers (18-34)	Gen X (35-46)	Baby Boomers (47-65)	Matures (66+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
The 9/11 First Responders health care bill	88	82	93	87	88	92	87	86
The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits	73	89	64	70	71	73	76	71
The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military	68	37	90	67	78	67	62	63
The ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control treaty	67	29	93	66	79	59	63	62
The Financial Regulation bill	63	31	91	54	73	48	61	63
The Stimulus Package of increased government spending and tax cuts	51	20	82	42	54	48	52	44
The Health Care Reform bill	51	11	86	45	56	47	53	43
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

TABLE 5 RATING BILLS ALL TOGETHER "Viewing these bills listed below all together, how would you rate them?" The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military The Health Care Reform bill The bill to extend Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits The Stimulus Package of increased government spending and tax cuts The 9/11 First Responders health care bill The Financial Regulation bill The ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control treaty Base: All adults
	Total	Political ID			Generation
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.	Echo Boomers (18-34)	Gen X (35-46)	Baby Boomers (47-65)	Matures (66+)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Positive (NET)	39	13	64	37	43	35	39	36
Excellent	7	2	13	4	12	3	4	7
Pretty good	32	10	50	33	32	32	34	29
Negative (NET)	61	87	36	63	57	65	61	64
Only fair	44	54	33	44	45	45	42	46
Poor	17	33	4	19	12	19	20	18
Note: Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between January 17 to 24, 2011 among 2,566 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.

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Q880, 885, 890, 895

*The Harris Poll^® #15, February 7, 2011*
By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll

About Harris Interactive

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