Rasmussen Poll Finds Majority Believe Obama Runs White House

More than six in 10 voters say they believe former two-term Democrat President Barack Obama is influencing the current Biden administration, including 53% who think that President Joe Biden is a “puppet” in a third Obama administration, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey released Friday.

The poll found that 63% of likely voters say Obama is at least influencing Biden, his former vice president, including 40% who say it’s “very likely.” Even 56% of Democrats say it’s “somewhat likely” that Obama is exerting influence on Biden.

In addition, 37% say they “strongly agree” with Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., who said last July that Biden is “a puppet for a progressive left committee … headed by Obama.” That includes 53% of unaffiliated voters; 28% of Democrats at least “somewhat agree” that Obama is running the Biden White House.

However, 52% of voters have a favorable impression of Obama, including 26% of Republicans and 42% of unaffiliated voters surveyed. Further, 33% say they have a “very favorable” opinion of Obama. Among that subset, 42% think Obama is influencing Biden and 17% say Obama is running things altogether.

While more women voters vs. men have a “very favorable” opinion of Obama, 36% to 30%, more men (58%) than women (47%) think Biden is a puppet for Obama.

Rasmussen surveyed 935 likely voters in the U.S. from Jan 15-17. The margin of sampling error is plus/minus points with a 95% level of confidence.