@MarcACaputo
Fox News just released a nationwide poll that reflects many others by finding voters are unhappy with the economy and want Obamacare repealed.
But what's truly eye-opening are the comparisons of partisan opinions of President Barack Obama and George Zimmerman, who was acquitted July 13 of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for shooting unarmed Miami Gardens 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.
Republicans have a more-favorable opinion of Zimmerman, a figure of sympathy to a number of conservatives, than Obama. That's right: The Democratic occupant of the White House is held in less favorable regard by Republicans than the guy who shot an unarmed teenager and successfully pleaded self-defense.
Specifically: Republicans are two-and-a-half times more-likely to have a favorable opinion of Zimmerman than Obama. And they're almost three-times more likely to have an unfavorable opinion of Obama than Zimmerman.
Republicans, with independents siding more with them, also agree with the verdict more than Democrats (who disagree with it). There's also a clear racial divide, with blacks disagreeing most-strongly with the verdict than whites. African-Americans are more likely to see race as a major factor in the case.
Asked for whether they rate these people as favorable or unfavorable, here's how GOP respondents answered the pollster:
Obama: 18-79% favorable-unfavorable
Zimmerman: 45-27% fav-unfav
But independents aren't far behind Republicans.
Among them, Zimmerman's fav-unfav: 28-34%. Obama: 30-60. So while independents narrowly liked Obama more, they disliked him by an even greater margin.
Overall, Obama beat out Zimmerman with a 50-46% rating for the president, thanks to strong Democratic support (88-11%). Overall, Zimmerman's fav-unfav is 28-43%, due largely to extreme Democratic dislike (his fav-unfav among them: 14-64%).
This fav-unfav question, incidentally, is an apples-to-apples question. Earlier in the poll, respondents were asked to rate their approval or disapproval of the president's job performance. The overall numbers: 46-47%. (Dem: 84-12%. GOP: 14-82%. Ind: 25-60%).
The other Zimmerman-trial questions exposed also exposed a partisan divide. There's an even bigger racial gap as well.
The verdict, agree-disagree?
Overall: 49-40
Dem: 26-64.
Rep: 73-18.
Ind: 57-29.
White: 56-31.
Black: 10-87
Was race the single-most important factor, one of several important factors or not an important factor?
Overall: 19-34-36
Dem: 36-36-23
Rep: 8-31-51
Ind: 9-35-41
White: 14-36-39
Black 54-28-12
Bring civil rights charges, yes-no?
Overall 28-66
Dem: 48-47
Rep: 14-82
Ind: 15-76
White: 20-74
Black: 77-22
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