Poll: Low Favorability Ratings For Pelosi, Reid

Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

Most Americans don't have an opinion about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a new CBS News poll finds, even after more than a year of debate over the health care reform bill that put them squarely in the public eye.

Yet those who do have an opinion of the Democratic Congressional leaders don't seem to have a very good one: Pelosi and Reid are viewed unfavorably by roughly three times as many people as they are viewed favorably.

Pelosi's favorable rating in the poll stands at 11 percent. Her unfavorable rating, meanwhile, is 37 percent -- meaning that more than one in three views the California Democrat negatively.

More than half of those surveyed say they are either undecided about Pelosi or haven't heard enough to make a decision.

More From the Poll:

Most Say Health Care Fight About Politics, Not Policy

Most Give Obama Credit for Health Care Bill

Read the Complete Poll

Reid's favorable rating, meanwhile, is even lower: Eight percent. His unfavorable rating stands at 23 percent.

The Nevada Democrat, who is facing a tough reelection battle, appears to be an unknown quantity to most Americans: Nearly seven in ten say they are say they are either undecided or haven't heard enough about Reid to offer an opinion.

The poll was conducted before the House voted on the health care reform bill Sunday.

This poll was taken as part of CBS News' "Where America Stands" series, an in-depth look at where the country stands today on key topics and an outlook for the future decade.

More Coverage of Health Care Reform:

Nine Events That Led to Health Care Reform
Analysis: Health Care Debate Shows Ideological Split
Health Care Bill Passed the House, But Battles Ahead in Senate, Court
Washington Unplugged: Obama's Next Task Is Selling the Health Care Bill
Health Care Reform: Which Party Comes Out on Top?
"Baby Killer" Remark Came From Randy Neugebauer
House Passes Health Care Bill
Health Care Bill: What's In It?
Rush Limbaugh: "America is Hanging by a Thread"
Palin: Health Care Vote a "Clarion Call" to Action
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

---

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1059 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone March 18-21, 2010. Interviewing was continued Sunday until the House of Representatives voted on the legislation. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[sonnyseidt]

i don't know about polls, except that my family and freinds, have never been polled with any questions about the state of our government. none of my neighbors have either. so i disregard polls, as they are taken by people whom may be asking the questions to whom they know, they will receive. it's really a matter of trust.not a valued program by any means. which leads me to ask.if something is in question, why do you need a poll? in even a ball game the outcome is not decided by polls but by action! polls taken on pelosi, reid, and oboma cannot reflect what the average citizen thinks of them. they are the most anti-american and power hungry individuals ever elected to a public office and what little action they have tken, is definately not to the likes of the average working man! expensive bail outs of wall street and rich banks and programs that are made because of who's in power is not and never will be american nor for the benifit in the end, for the people. thus unemployment is not addressed. while billions are approved for certain unprivlaged teenagers, in every major city. while the unemployed working man goes without a job and i'm certain many have families and children. it doesn't take a poll to report the facts

[jem0309]

way to go dems and obama!

this is why we voted last election.

[ivehadit9]

Like for instance, the voters of South Carolina kept voting for Lindsey Graham, even though he joined the amnesty bandwagon a few years ago.

He kept pushing for immigration reform in 2007 and yet the voters kept voting for him.

Now, he joined forces with Charles Schumer to draft Obama's amnesty plan which is no different from Kennedy and McCain's Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill.

[ivehadit9]

"Poll: Low Favorability Ratings For Pelosi, Reid"

====================================================================

But you know what, these 2 politicians will get re-elected over and over again. The voters simply refuse to vote out their incumbents.

Now I don't know what district Harry Reid represents and I don't know what type of constituents he represents in Nevada, but Nancy Pelosi's district includes 4/5ths of that liberal, left-wing city called San Francisco.

[hockeymom441]

Most American don't even know who the first President was... so I don't realy give a crap what they think.

Polls are only good if the people being polled actually know a thing or 2 about the question.

I think the media has enough real news to stay away from some of this crap.

[LincolnsRollingOver]

"Just wait till insurance premiums skyrocket because of the new free goodies the insurance companies are forced to subsidize under this legislation"

What are you talking about? They won't even be around to have to face that music by the time the proverbial "sh*&" hits the fan. They'll be out of the public eye enjoying their life long health benefits that I assure you will be nowhere near the crap they force on all of us.

[LincolnsRollingOver]

The only thing that I see from this thread that Obama is successfully accomplishing is the tearing apart of our nation. If we were not all divided before then we certainly are now and it is evident that we will continue to travel further down this road over the coming years. For those of you who want to make historical references and just throw blatant insults out there attacking the Republican party for lack of intelligent arguments, I ask you to please follow and read this link. This is the difference between Republicans and Democrats and you'll find a key word towards the bottom of the write up and that word is "hard work."

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500

This country will in deed fall with this new since of arrogance and entitelment that so many feel is the way of the "New U.S." This man Obama will continue to poison the minds of those who are so desparate for change that they are willing to ignore the facts that are right there in front of them. I for one thought George W. Bush was a pretty lousy president and by all means should not have had a 2nd term but to act as if Obama is some modern day messiah is horrifying. As they say, be careful what you wish for, because it just may come true!

[parisdakar]

I watched her speak the other day for the first time. I was dismayed. She's even more of a dingbat than I thought.

[I_am_me1953]

What did you expect? She is from CA. She has to be dingy so the californicators can understand her.

[Southernboy87]

I think it might have been all the Botox she's received at the expense of the taxpayer dollars, its frozen her face

[maakahill]

The favorability for Pelosi & Reid seems rather high at 11% & 8% respectively. But that's about right for the entitlement crowd. Welcome to the Entitled States of America... God Bless us..

[macadou]

rbi149 you are the moron why can't you just post a comment with out bringing in NASCAR people most folks who watch races are very educated hard working people and they are not socialist or communist just hard working AMERICANS.