Poll: 70 percent optimisitic on Obama

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Nearly 70 percent of Americans say they're optimistic about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's overall policy efforts and direction, a survey indicates.

Respondents to the Washington Post-ABC News poll also said by a more than two-thirds majority that they think Obama will be able to make significant improvements to the U.S. healthcare system and implement policies to reduce global warming, the newspaper reported Sunday.

Even substantial percentages of Republicans and those who supported GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona in last month's election (45 and 39 percent, respectively) said they were optimistic about Obama's chances of success in implementing his policy goals, the poll indicated.

Two-thirds of those polled said the new president and the U.S. Congress should concentrate on fixing the economy while a similar proportion, 65 percent, backed a massive economic stimulus package such as the one sketched out in recent days by the Obama transition team, the Post said.

The poll was conducted Dec. 11-14 among 1,003 U.S. adults interviewed on residential telephones or on cellphones and carries a margin of error of 3 percentage points.