A Third of Democrats Say Obama Compromised Too Much on the Tax Deal

About a third of Democrats say President Obama compromised too much in reaching a tax-cut deal with Republicans, but more than half of them said the amount of compromise was "about right" or not enough, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Dec. 10-12.

Compared to the 34 percent of Democrats who said Obama compromised too much, 40 percent of them said the deal he made was "about right" and 15 percent said it was not enough. Twelve percent had no opinion.

A higher number of Democrats than the public at large felt Obama went too far. Overall, 38 percent of Americans said the amount Obama compromised was about right, while 21 percent regarded it as too much and another 26 percent considered it not enough. Fifteen percent had no opinion.

Forty-two percent of Republicans said Obama's amount of give was not enough, while 37 percent rated it about right, with 7 percent saying it was too much and 14 percent expressing no opinion. Among independents, 38 percent were in the "about right" camp, with 22 percent saying Obama did not compromise enough and 21 percent saying he compromised too much. Twenty percent of independents expressed no opinion.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll published Tuesday said 45 percent saw Obama's compromise as "about the right amount," while 40 percent said it was too little. Eleven percent deemed it as too much, while 4 percent were undecided. Fifty-four percent said Republicans were doing too little to compromise compared to 32 percent who felt it was the right amount, with 8 percent saying "too much" and 7 percent undecided.

Obama's willingness to compromise with the newly empowered Republicans did not appear to affect his image either with the public or partisan groups. Fifty-five percent of all Americans and about the same number of Republicans, Democrats and independents said the compromise had no effect on their opinion of Obama. Twenty-one percent of the public said they respected him more, 17 percent said they respected him less, while 7 percent had no opinion.

While the tax-cut deal is arguably the biggest compromise between Obama and the Republicans since he took office, it did not make Americans more optimistic about the ability of government to address the nation's biggest problems.

Fifty-one percent said they were less optimistic that would happen in the wake of the tax deal, 20 percent were more optimistic and 24 percent said they saw no effect, with 5 percent expressing no opinion. A majority of Democrats and independents were more pessimistic as was a plurality of Republicans.

Follow Poll Watch on Twitter

Visit the Poll Watch Home Page and see all the latest polls in one place