Post-speech numbers

After Tuesday's not-quite SOTU, Gallup's overall job approval goes +8. Partisan breakdown:



Democrats +4, Independents +8, Republicans +15

The man knows how to sell a plan, yet before the election people were arguing that oratory isn't an important skill in a president. Bullshit; I never thought that for a second.

TMV comments:

Republicans spent weeks chipping away at Obama from all sides and had managed to at least win over their own party, but with one fell swoop he effectively swatted down the opposition and erased any gains they had made.

Nearly half of Republicans now approve of him. How will the Republican leadership deal with this new political reality? They can keep trying to beat Obama in a PR fight, but they are ill-equipped for that battle and are up against the best in the game. Will they instead try to work with the administration? Or will they stay in the wilderness until they come up with a better strategy than opposing volcano monitoring research?

The speech was excellent oratory. But these approval numbers will surely go down somewhat once new polls come out after the White House released their proposed budget and spending figures.

I estimate the sustainable range of Republican support is closer to 33 than 42.   Independent support will drop several points as well.