53% Say Next President Likely To Be A Republican

From Rasmussen Reports:

Friday, April 24, 2009

For the first time since Barack Obama was elected president last November, more than half of U.S. voters (53%) say it is at least somewhat likely that the next occupant of the White House will be a Republican. Thirty-one percent (31%) say it is Very Likely.

Thirty-five percent (35%) say it is not very or not at all likely, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) aren’t sure.

This is not an expectation related to the 2012 election. It is a question about the President following Obama which could happen in either 2012 or 2016.

Naturally, there is a partisan divide--77% of Republican voters say it’s likely the next president will be from their party. Just 39% of Democrats agree.

Still, that’s an increase among both parties from previous surveys. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 47% now say a GOP president is likely, while 33% think not.

Just after Obama’s election, 50% of voters said the next president is likely to be a Republican. But since the new president took office, that number has dropped into the mid-40s.
Forty-six percent (46%) of voters now say President Obama is governing like a partisan Democrat, down four points from last month. But the new finding is still higher than those in surveys during Obama’s first few weeks as president.

Thirty-five percent (35%) believe the president is governing on a bipartisan basis, and 18% are undecided.Support for Obama remains stable in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters say politics in Washington, D.C. will be more partisan over the next year, down slightly from a month ago, while 29% say it will be more cooperative.

Most Republicans (69%) and unaffiliated Americans (57%) expect more partisanship. Democrats are evenly divided on this question.

For the first time since Obama became president, however, voters see congressional Democrats and Republicans as equally partisan. In previous surveys, Democrats who control both houses of Congress have been perceived as more partisan than the minority party.

Now, 57% say congressional Republicans are governing like partisan Republicans, while 20% say they’re acting on a bipartisan basis.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) say congressional Democrats are governing in a partisan fashion, although 19% see their performance as bipartisan.

This is perhaps not surprising following Rasmussen Reports’ surveys that delineate the differences between Mainstream America and the Political Class on issues like government bailouts and last week’s “tea party” protests. On many issues, the gap between Mainstream Americans and the Political Class is bigger than the gap between Mainstream Republicans and Mainstream Democrats.