Ipsos/ Reuters Poll: July 2011

Washington, DC - Below are the key findings from Ipsos' latest poll carried out on behalf of Reuters:

• There has been a slight drop in the number of Americans who feel the country is heading in `the right direction' (from 35% to 31%) - we saw a slight improvement on this measure in May and June, but this has now dropped back down again.
• There has been no change in President Obama's job approval ratings (49% approve and 46% disapprove, compared to 50% and 46% respectively last month).
• As expected, the economy remains the most important problem facing the US, and has now crossed the 50% mark for the first time since February 2009 (concern about the economy now at 51%; it was at 76% in February 2009 but dropped back to the high 40s after that). Public concern about domestic issues has also increased notably (to 34%), mainly due to increasing concern about the deficit and government spending (14%, up from 8% last October). Public concern about foreign affairs, on the other hand, is now lower than it has been in two years, at just 5%.
• We asked a question about the implications of Congress failing to raise the debt limit, and what services the government should stop paying if this happens. Americans feel that the first service the Government should stop paying (if this happens) is `international creditors like banks' (58%), followed by `government departments' (28%) and `members of the US military' (16%). Equal proportions (10% each) feel that payments can be stopped to politicians, Medicare/Medicaid recipients, and Social Security recipients. We should note here that we provided a list of options here, with an `Other - Specify' option, and that mentions of `politicians salaries' being cut emerged spontaneously out of this `Other' option.
• The final question asked Republicans and Independents whether Bachmann or Romney would make a better candidate for the Republican nomination for President. Romney is the clear winner here (40%), and Bachmann trails on 23%. Among Republicans, Romney is on 43% to Bachmann's 25%; among Independents, Romney is on 27% to Bachmann's 17% (far more Independents than Republicans say they `don't know' or are `unsure'). Those most likely to support Romney are those on higher income levels (among households earning above $75k/year, his rating jumps to 58%).

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters from July 8th through 11th, 2011. For the survey, a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of exactly 1,173 adults aged 18 and older across the United States was interviewed by Ipsos via live telephone interviewing on landlines and cell phones. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled.

More data and full technical details are available in the topline document attached.

For more information on this news release please contact:

Clifford Young Managing Director, Public Sector Practice Ipsos Public Affairs 312.375.3328 [email protected]

Julia Clark Director Ipsos Public Affairs 202.463.3623 [email protected]

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