A new Gallup poll shows that the National Rifle Association, the target of a wave of intensely negative news coverage after the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings, still has a favorable rating of 54 percent.  While down from the organization’s 60 percent favorable rating in 2005, that is still about a point higher than President Obama’s personal favorable rating.

A Huffington Post average of the president’s favorable ratings places it at 52.3 percent.  That average includes favorable ratings of 49 percent in a December 16 CBS News poll, 53 percent in a December 9 Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, and 56 percent in a November 18 CNN poll.

On the NRA, Gallup found that 83 percent of Republicans give the nation’s largest pro-gun organization a favorable rating.  Fifty-four percent of independents view the NRA favorably, and 36 percent of Democrats do so.

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Gallup also found a difference between the public’s general favorable impression of the NRA and views on specific issues.  Only 35 percent of those surveyed said the NRA expresses their views on gun issues most or all of the time.  That means there is a significant part of the population that views the NRA favorably yet still disagrees with the organization from time to time.