Obama Maybe Poised for a Comeback

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: 139

"Opinion polls had Team Obama feeling better, but then an actual election loss in a 3-to-1 Democratic Congressional district demonstrated the troubles Obama faces with discouraged voters. Was the Republican win in former Rep. Anthony Weiner's district a rejection of Obama, or just the result of a poorly run campaign and local issues particular to the heavily Jewish Orthodox Brooklyn-Queens district? Our polling suggested Obama doing better nationally, as both independents and Democrats helped improve both his job approval and re-election numbers after his jobs speech to Congress. While Democrats may panic over the loss of a New York City seat, what's left of the Republican establishment is worried that Rick Perry is a runaway train headed to the Presidential nomination and defeat next November. Finally keep an eye on what could become Obama's first potential serious ethics problem, a $500 million loan to now shuttered solar panel company Solyndra, whose major backers are associated with Obama campaign fundraiser George Kaiser."

This week's grade: C-

Last week's: B-

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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