While views are split on the fiscal cliff agreement, President Barack Obama is generally seen as having won the debate, with Republicans' dislike of the deal leading to "absymal marks for GOPers," a poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found.
There is consensus across the ideological spectrum that Obama came out on top, with a majority of Democrats and independents and nearly three quarters of Republicans saying the president got more of what he wanted from the tax legislation.
"Barack Obama is viewed as the clear political winner in the fiscal cliff negotiations, but the legislation itself gets only a lukewarm reception from the public," the Pew report said. "As many disapprove as approve of the new tax legislation, and more say it will have a negative than positive impact on the federal budget deficit, the national economy and people like themselves."
Most Democrats approved of the legislation, and the vast majority of the party -- 81 percent -- supported Obama's performance in the negotiations. Republicans' discontent with their party leadership, in contrast, was profound. Only 40 percent of Republicans approved of the GOP's handling of negotiations on the fiscal cliff, fewer than the 45 percent who disapproved. Just 16 percent of Republicans approved of the resulting legislation, with majorities predicting it would hurt the economy, the budget deficit and people like them.
A Gallup poll released last week found Americans almost evenly divided on the fiscal cliff deal, with Republican leaders receiving deeply negative ratings for their handling of the issue.
The Pew poll surveyed 1,003 adults by phone between Jan. 3 and Jan. 6, with a 3.7 percent margin of error.
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