The Hill News

Half of likely voters have a favorable opinion of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a new poll found Friday.

After withstanding a month of being besieged by President Obama and Democrats, voters still saw the business advocacy group in a positive light.

Fifty percent of likely voters said they had a favorable opinion of the Chamber, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released Friday. Twenty-three percent of likely voters had an unfavorable opinion of the group, while 15 percent had no opinion about it.

The poll suggests that Democrats' protracted attacks against the group, which has been one of the larger organizations spending money on behalf of Republicans in this fall's elections, might not have been as effective a strategy as the White House might have hoped.

Democrats, led by Obama, have loudly criticized the Chamber and GOP-aligned groups like American Crossroads (and its affiliate, Crossroads GPS) for accepting large amounts of money to spend against Democrats without having to disclose their sources of funding.

Polls have shown that voters agree with the concept that groups should be forced to disclose their sources of funding, an end that had been sought by congressional Democrats but was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Eighty-one percent of U.S. adults said in a New York Times/CBS News poll on Thursday that it was "very" important that those groups ! be force d to disclose their funding sources, while another 11 percent said it was "somewhat" important.

Additionally, 72 percent of Americans said the money that outside groups like the Chamber spend on elections should be limited by law.

But the Fox poll suggests a disconnect between the principles behind Democrats' attacks and the actual effect they've had on the Chamber. The group still benefits from a net-positive rating from Democratic registered voters in the Fox poll; 47 percent of registered Democrats view the Chamber favorably, while 22 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of the business group.

Some Democrats had raised questions about the strategy of using the Chamber as an election-year lightning rod earlier this month.

"I think attacking the outside money, and specifically attacking the Chamber, is of very limited value to the White House," former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), who once headed the Democratic Congressional Camp! aign Committee (DCCC), told The Hill at the time. "I don't think it makes much difference in the election."

The Fox poll, conducted Oct. 26-28, has a 3.5 percent margin of error for likely voters. Registered Democrats have a 5 percent margin of error. The Times/CBS poll was conducted Oct. 21-26 and has a 3 percent margin of error.