Barack Obama's Popularity Rises Above the Best of a Bad Lot

A recent NBC/WSJ poll taken before this week's debate has some sobering news for Republicans.

First, only 45% of prospective Republican primary voters say they are satisfied with the Republican Party's 2012 presidential candidates. The good news for Mitt Romney is that they rank him highest:

Candidate	Percent
Mitt Romney	30
Sarah Palin	14
Herman Cain	12
Rick Perry	8
Ron Paul	7
Newt Gingrich	6
Tim Pawlenty	4
Rick Santorum	4
Michele Bachmann	3
Jon Huntsman	1
Other	1
None	2
Not sure	8

The bad news for Republicans is that Barack Obama continues to enjoy a relatively positive imgage, compared to all of them:

Person or Group	Positive	Negative	Pos-Neg
Barack Obama	49	37	12
Chris Christie	23	14	9
Mitt Romney	27	26	1
The Democratic Party	38	39	-1
Paul Ryan	17	18	-1
Tim Pawlenty	14	15	-1
Jon Huntsman	7	9	-2
Rick Perry	12	15	-3
The Tea Party Movement	28	41	-13
The Republican Party	30	44	-14
Sarah Palin	24	54	-30
Newt Gingrich	16	48	-32

Those Republicans who'd like to see New Jersey Governor Chris Christie jump into the Presidential race will be heartened but ought to consider that many voters outside of New Jersey (44%) still don't know him. There are a couple of notable Repuiblican candidates not on that list, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain.

At the root of it is that while Barack Obama's job approval ratings are just middling, approval ratings for Congress are downright abysmal. Congress continues to drag the Republican Party down:

Job	Approve	Disapprove	Not sure
Barack Obama as President	49	46	5
Barack Obama handling the economy	41	54	5
Barack Obama handling foreign policy	54	44	6
Barack Obama handling the war in Afghanistan	54	39	7
Congress	18	74	8

How will that change? Congress is getting blamed with only 29% believing the country is headed in the right direction and 62% believing we are off on the wrong track.