The public is not assigning blame equally between President Obama and Republicans in Congress for the partisan gridlock over key legislation.
In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, 60 percent say Mr. Obama is attempting to work with Congressional Republicans to try to accomplish something; 27 percent say Republicans in Congress are making the same effort to work things out with the president.
There is strong public support for politicians to start cooperating. At least 80 percent – regardless of party identification – say Republicans and Democrats should compromise some of their positions in order to get things done.
Majorities of Democrats and independents say Mr. Obama is trying to work with the Republicans and only a third of Republicans agree. But nearly half of the Republicans surveyed do agree with Democrats and independents on one thing: Congressional Republicans are not working with the president to make progress on the legislative agenda.
The public is closely divided in their assessment of President Obama: 47 percent approve of how he has been handling his job and 45 percent disapprove. Again, there are strong partisan divisions. About three-quarters of Democrats approve of his stewardship, more than 8 in 10 Republicans disapprove of Mr. Obama’s job performance, and independents are closely divided.
The nationwide poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 12-17, with 1,154 adults on landlines and cellphones and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all respondents. Additional results from this poll will be available after 6:30 p.m. at NYTimes.com.