Zogby: Obama Recovers, Readies for Re-election

Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president's week ending.

John Zogby on Week: 117

"This was a much improved week for President Obama. A government shutdown was avoided and some polling found voters more likely to blame Republicans than Obama for bringing the government so close to the brink. Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's proposal to end Medicare as we have known it gave the president a fat target, and he hit it hard in his deficit reduction speech. Obama had to effectively remind his base why he was elected and offered a restatement of his governing philosophy, which is that Americans may not like government all that much but they want a government that does good things for people. He also restated for Democrats and independents why the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are irresponsible--at least in their view. Above all, he jumped out in front of the issue of deficits and laid out a solid position for his 2012 bid. It was a political speech short on details, but look for his numbers to climb among the Democratic base."

This week's grade: B-

Last week's: D+

John Zogby is Chairman of the Board and Chief Insights Officer for IBOPE Zogby International, a non-partisan public opinion, research, and business solutions firm with experience working in more than 70 countries around the globe. IBOPE Zogby International specializes in telephone, Internet, and face-to-face survey research and analysis for corporate, political, nonprofit, and governmental clients. The firm is headquartered in Utica, N.Y. John Zogby is also the author of The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House).

• See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.
• See editorial cartoons about President Obama.
• See who's been visiting the White House.

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