Most Voters Doubt That Obama and GOP House Can Work Together

As the White House and congressional Republicans haggle over extending the Bush tax cuts, voters express even less confidence than they did a month ago that President Obama can work with the new GOP majority in the House.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 38% of Likely U.S. Voters are even somewhat confident that the president can work with the new House Republican majority to do what’s best for the American people.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) don’t share that confidence.

Those figures include 18% who are Very Confident the political opponents can work together and 25% who are Not At All Confident. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Just after Election Day last month, 43% were confident the two could work together for what’s best for the country. 

A separate survey finds that 56% of voters think politics in Washington, D.C. will be more partisan over the next year. That’s up from 49% right after Election Day.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on December 1-2, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Do most voters think bipartisanship is a good thing? Voters in which party are more confident that the president and the House GOP can work together? Become a Platinum member and find out.