A lot of people are pointing to today’s Washington Post/Pew poll as evidence that President Obama got at least a 9 point bounce out of Osama bin Laden’s death. Not so fast. Today’s WaPo/Pew poll (56% Obama approval rating) only had a 654 adult sample. It should not be compared to the regularly scheduled monthly WaPo/ABC News poll (47% Obama approval rating) which routinely has a sample of at least 1,000 adults.
CNN also has a poll out showing a 4 point jump from 48% last month to 52% today. Again, the post-Osama sample size (700 adults) is smaller than CNN’s regular poll (824 adults).
SurveyUSA released their own nation wide Obama approval number, their first since April 2009. 46% of SurveyUSA’s 1000-adult sample approves of Obama’s job as president. 42% disapprove.
Gallup released their daily tracking number at 1 pm today, showing a slight 1 point bounce (47% up from 46%). But Gallup produces their number using a three day rolling sample, so only one-third of Gallup’s sample is post-Osama.
Rasmussen also uses a three-day rolling sample for their daily approval tracking, and after just one full day of post-Osama numbers, Obama’s approval number shows no change at 49% approve.