Pew poll: Majority say Obama won 'fiscal cliff' negotiations with GOP

A majority of the public believes President Obama was the political victor in "fiscal cliff" negotiations with Republicans, according to a Pew Research survey released Monday.

In the poll, 57 percent said Obama got more of what he wanted from the final deal, while only 20 percent said Republicans got more of what they sought.

In addition, 48 percent said they approved of Obama's handling of the negotiations, compared to 19 percent who said they approved of the job Republican leaders did.

However, the public has a negative view of the fiscal-cliff legislation overall, with a majority — 52 percent — saying they believed the agreement would hurt them personally, against 30 percent saying they believed it would help them.

On New Year's Day, the House and Senate voted to approve a deal extending the expiring Bush-era tax rates for middle-class families and delaying across-the-board cuts through sequestration until March. 

The agreement blocking or delaying the most harmful aspects of the "fiscal cliff," which economists warned could have sparked a new recession, capped a tumultuous stretch for House Republicans, and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in particular. 

Boehner failed to strike a post-election grand bargain with Obama, scrapped a vote on his own tax-relief plan because of a Republican mutiny, sat on the sidelines as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hammered out a final deal with Vice President Biden and pushed to approve the compromise, which was backed by only 85 House Republicans.

The law that Obama signed allows taxes to rise for families above a $450,000 threshold and individuals above $400,000, while extending current rates for all other taxpayers.

The Pew survey of 1,003 adults was conducted between Jan. 3-6 and has a 3.7 percentage point margin of error.

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