WASHINGTON — Republican attacks on President Obama’s policies are resonating with voters, even as many Americans give a thumbs-down to the party and some of its specific ideas, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.

Three weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans maintain a position of strength due to the commitment of their supporters and the likelihood they will vote.

The general Republican message of less spending, lower taxes and repeal of the health-care overhaul is connecting. Pluralities of those polled support overturning the health-care measure – Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment – and back the “Pledge to America” that offers a road map for how Republicans would govern if they win congressional majorities.

Still, the poll suggests voters aren’t embracing Republicans as much as they are rejecting Democrats.

Poll participant Carol Wortham, 62, a retired state and federal government worker in Bayou Vista, Texas, who considers herself an independent voter, said she plans to support Republicans this year, though she isn’t excited to do so.

“They are the lesser of two evils,” she said.

The poll finds Republicans in an anomalous position – poised to make political gains while the party and its policies are unpopular. That stands in contrast to midterm elections in 1994 and 2006, when the insurgent party gained congressional control after polls showed voter attitudes tilting toward them.

In the Bloomberg Poll, nearly half of likely voters – 49 percent – said they had an unfavorable view of the Republicans. Democrats have a narrow advantage on favorability, 47 percent to 45 percent.

In October 1994, the month before Republicans won enough seats to gain control of both the House and Senate, their party had a 7-percent advantage in positive ratings among registered voters, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. In October 2006, before Democrats retook control of both chambers, a NBC/Journal poll showed their party with a sizable popularity advantage over Republicans.

“People are insecure,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that conducted the nationwide survey on Oct. 7-10. “Their own money is tight and the current administration has not convinced them the nation will not go broke from big spending programs. That insecurity does not translate into trust for Republicans, however.”

Obama inherited an economy in crisis. Joblessness, which reached a 26-year high of 10.1 percent in October 2009, stood at 9.6 percent nationwide last month. Gross domestic product, which recorded a 5.0 percent annual growth rate in last year’s final quarter, slowed to 1.7 percent during 2010’s second quarter. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is up more than 44 percent since Obama took office in January 2009, though it’s risen only 4.5 percent this year.

Much of Obama’s focus in his first year was on passing the health-care overhaul that aims to insure tens of millions of Americans, cut costs and bar insurers from rejecting customers with pre-existing medical conditions. In the new Bloomberg poll, the measure’s repeal is favored by 47 percent of likely voters, while 42 percent say it should be left alone.

Still, the poll found strong backing for most of the law’s provisions. Three-quarters favor its ban on insurance companies denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions; 67 percent support allowing children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ policies. Also, 73 percent want to keep the addition of more prescription-drug benefits for those on Medicare.

Among eight of the law’s provisions on which the poll sought opinions, repeal was backed by a majority of likely voters for just two: requiring everyone to have health insurance and taxing companies that offer especially generous coverage.

Democrats have generally shied away from campaigning on the bill because of its overall unpopularity.

 

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