Forty percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of Boehner's job performance. Poll: Boehner disapproval rises

The more some Americans have seen House Speaker John Boehner, the more they seem to dislike his work.

Forty percent of those surveyed for a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday said they disapprove of the Ohio Republican’s job performance, up from 27 percent in January, soon after he’d taken the speaker’s gavel from now-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).


The big shift came as about half of those who said in January they had no opinion of Boehner developed one. Three months ago, 33 percent of those surveyed said they had no opinion on Boehner, while in this month’s poll, that number fell to 17 percent.

But the news isn’t all bad for Boehner. His job performance still gets the approval of 43 percent of respondents, a higher percentage than the 40 percent who say they do not. And it’s better than Pelosi did during the last two years in which she was speaker, when her disapproval ratings hovered between 45 and 50 percent.

Boehner also does better than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), whose net approval rating in the poll is at 49 percent, while his approval is at 33 percent. The poll was conducted April 14-17 and surveyed 1,001 adults. The error margin is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.