No Honeymoon for GOP-Tea Partyites in Congress

Hey, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. And I was wrong late last year when I predicted that Pres. Obama’s poll numbers would be tanking into the 30s in mid-January — so, now — primarily because he made a deal with Republican, who were threatening hissy fits if he did not agree to extend tax breaks for their billionaire sponsors.

The way it looked then was that hordes of liberals and fiscally responsible Democrats would abandon the president over the deal, that whatever he might gain in support from moderates and swing voters, he’d lose from his base, and then some.

But the White House followed up its caving on the tax cuts with other successes, particularly the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The latest poll from NBC and the Wall St. Journal shows the president with 53 percent approval, the best number he’s seen since 2009, when the Republicans launched their astroturfed tea party campaign against reform.

But sometimes I get things right, as I was when I predicted that Republicans would get little or nothing by way of a honeymoon with voters. The same NBC/GOP-WSJ poll found:

Only 25 percent say the Republicans in Congress will bring the right kind of change (versus 42 percent who said that about the Dems in Jan. 2007, and 37 percent who said that about the GOP in Jan. 1995). In addition, a majority (55 percent) believe congressional Republicans will be too inflexible in dealing with Obama, while an equal number (55 percent) say Obama will strike the right balance. And then there’s this: The GOP’s fav/unfav has gone from a net positive in December (38 percent-37 percent) to a net negative now (34 percent-40 percent).

Meanwhile, the Democrats have turned a net negative (37 percent-41 percent) to a net positive (39 percent-35 percent).

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