By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is riding a wave of good feeling toward him and his key Cabinet appointments, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — positive attitudes that may give him some breathing room for tough decisions ahead.
Soaring ratings for the way he has handled the presidential transition so far — more than three of four Americans express approval — contrast with a downbeat national mood over the economy.
By 69%-25%, those surveyed approve of Obama’s choice of former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State.
By an even wider margin, 80%-14%, they support his decision to have President Bush’s Defense secretary, Robert Gates, stay on the job.
Americans are “projecting their hopes” for the new president, says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who studies polling, but they will expect concrete results to follow.
“He’ll have a season of good will,” Franklin says, but over time “it’s going to become increasingly Obama’s economy rather than Bush’s economy.”
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