Gallup: Obama Approval Hits New Lows

[Ryan Ruck]

Gallup: Obama Approval Hits New Lows

July 29, 2011

President Barack Obama's job approval rating is at a new low, averaging 40 percent according to the latest from Gallup.

The data was compiled from the July 26-28 Gallup Daily tracking poll. Obama's previous low rating — 41 percent — occurred several times, the last of which was in April. As recently as June 7, Obama had 50 percent job approval.

Obama's approval rating averaged 46 percent in June and was near that level for most of July. However, it has stumbled in the past few days, coinciding with intensification of the debt ceiling/budget battle in Washington.

Obama's 40 percent overall approval rating nearly matches the recent 41 percent approval Americans gave him for handling the debt ceiling negotiations. Though Americans rate Obama poorly for his handling of the situation, they are less approving of how House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are handling it.

Gallup does not include ratings of Congress or congressional leaders in its Daily tracking, and thus, there is no overall job approval rating of Boehner, Reid, or Congress directly comparable to Obama's current 40 percent overall job approval rating.

Obama's job approval rating among Democrats is 72 percent, compared with 34 percent among independents and 13 percent among Republicans. In the prior three weeks, his average approval rating was 79 percent among Democrats, 41 percent among independents, and 12 percent among Republicans.

The debt crisis may be contributing to a generally sour mood for Americans that stretches beyond political ratings. For example, Gallup's Economic Confidence Index, which also is tracked daily, averaged -49 July 26-28, down 8 points in the last week and down 19 points since early July. The current index score is the worst Gallup has measured since March 2009.

The index consists of two questions, measuring Americans' ratings of current economic conditions and their assessments of whether the economy is getting better or worse.

Currently, 52 percent say economic conditions are poor, the highest since August 2010. And 75 percent of Americans say economic conditions are getting worse, a level not seen since March 2009.

The inability of U.S. lawmakers to agree on the debt ceiling has apparently shaken Americans' confidence in the economy and now seems to be taking its toll on the president's public support, with Obama's approval rating at a new low.

As the debt ceiling talks drag on, his ratings, as well as those of Congress (last measured at 18 percent in early July), could decline further. By the same token, if an agreement is reached, it could restore some degree of public confidence in U.S. political leaders and in the economy.

Yeah, and we're the ones that need to compromise. Looks like the public at large doesn't agree.

[American Patriot]

Obama is a fucking washout.

[vector7]

Obama approval 50 percent or higher in 16 states

Published: Aug. 8, 2011 at 8:31 AM


United States President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama return to the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. from a weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat near Thurmont, Maryland on August 7, 2011. UPI/Ron Sachs/Pool

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PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- People in 16 states and the District of Columbia gave President Obama at least a 50 percent approval rating for the first half of 2011, Gallup reported.

Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia and Maryland paced the approval ratings for Obama, while Idaho residents had the least positive appraisal of his job performance, the results released Monday indicated.

Obama averaged 47 percent approval on a nationwide basis during the first six months of the year, based on data weighted to be demographically representative of the state's population, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Obama's support is greatest in the East, with eight of his 10 highest approval ratings occurring in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions. Gallup said Obama's home state of Hawaii, where he was born, and Illinois, where he lived before being elected president, also were among the top tier.

The District of Columbia lead all giving Obama more than 50 percent approval. The states that topped 50 percent were, in order, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Maine and Michigan.

States giving Obama his lowest approval ratings are more varied, with several in the West, South and Midwest. The bottom 10 states were Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Alabama and Kansas (tied).

Obama's national average approval rating of 47 percent for the first half of 2012 matches his average nationwide approval rating for all of 2010, Gallup said.

Gallup said Obama got a 50 percent or higher approval rating in 16 states in 2011 compared with 12 states in 2010, along with the District of Columbia in both time periods.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews of 89,965 adults conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking Jan. 2-June 30. The margin of error for the total sample is 1 percentage point.

[Ryan Ruck]

Gallup: Obama Job Rating Sinks Below 40% For First Time

August 14, 2011

President Obama's summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll.

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Obama's approval rating has hovered in the 40% range for much of 2011, peaking at 53% in the weeks following the death of Osama bin Laden.

But Americans' view of his job performance continued to tick downward as the debt-ceiling debate heated up. By the time he signed legislation averting a federal default, he was mired in the low-40% range.

The polling setback comes as the Republican race to unseat him has kicked into overdrive. The past week has been dominated by the activity in Iowa ahead of the Ames Straw Poll, and the entrance of a new contender in Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The candidates have routinely assailed Obama's leadership in appealing to conservative activists who dominate this stage of the nominating contest.

Obama is set to launch something of a counter-offensive on Monday with a three-day bus tour of the Midwest, a trip that includes two stops in Iowa. The White House denied that the itinerary was politically motivated, however.

The three-day tracking poll was conducted from Aug. 11-13.

[Malsua]

I hope his ratings continue to spiral into the toilet loaded with coiled fudge dragons.

[American Patriot]

Gosh, I wonder why. He's such a great guy...

[American Patriot]

With approval rating at new low, Obama launches three-day bus blitz

Then-presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigns aboard a pickup truck in Dubuque, Iowa in June 2007. (Mark Hirsch/AP)

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By James Oliphant and Peter Nicholas August 15, 2011, 4:46 a.m.

Reporting from Minneapolis—
Burdened by sagging poll numbers, hamstrung by poor economic news, and trapped in Washington for much of the summer because of the debt ceiling fight, President Obama will seek to reverse his recent fortunes by hitting the open road.Obama Monday will embark on a three-state, five-town bus tour deep in the heart of the American Midwest, hoping to tell the public—and potential voters--some small-business success stories and highlight economic development in rural areas. He’ll also be looking to rebut criticism that he’s not focused on finding solutions to bolster the flat-lining economy.
The campaign-style swing comes at a time when a new Gallup Poll shows the president sliding below a 40 % approval rating for the first time—and when Republicans appear energized by the entry of Texas Gov. Rick Perry into the 2012 presidential field, as well as the blossoming candidacy of Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Although the White House says the timing is coincidental, Obama will be visiting Iowa on the heels of Bachmann’s triumph in the GOP Straw Poll and Perry’s visit to the state, delivering a counterargument to the candidates’ incessant attacks on his handling of the economy. It should also serve as a reminder of happier times: His victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses served as the springboard to the Democratic presidential nomination.
The tour will launch in the small town of Cannon Falls, Minn. Monday, where the president will conduct a town hall, and then continue on to small hamlets in Iowa and Illinois along the spine of the Mississippi River. Obama won all three states over John McCain in 2008, but such rural towns sit outside the president’s political comfort zone.
Still, Obama made regular stops in rural outposts during his first campaign. The trip, White House aides say, is part of an economic initiative to help such communities gain access to credit, spur agricultural innovation, and better connect to the world’s digital business infrastructure.
On Tuesday in Iowa, the president will host a rural economic forum that will be attended by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other campaign members that will be similar to an event the White House held in Cleveland in the spring.
The president could be colliding directly with the tea-party forces that have helped disrupt his first term. When he visits two tiny towns in Illinois on Wednesday, he’ll pass through a region that sent two freshmen, Reps. Randy Hultgren and Bobby Schilling to Washington last year as part of the Republican wave.
The risk for the White House is that when many critics, including Democrats, are clamoring for Obama to do something big on the economy, a three-day jaunt down America's backroads could end up looking like just the opposite. He's also likely to hear complaints from local residents about his administration's economic and environmental policies, as well as the divisive healthcare overhaul.
The White House maintains the president will confine his remarks to the economy and will not go after his potential GOP presidential opponents. But at the very least, however, the trip should afford him a chance to renew his connection with a public that has been showing signs of increasing discontent with his administration--while perhaps reminding it of Obama the promise-laden candidate as opposed to the president who at times has appeared under siege by intransigent Republicans, disappointing economic news, and a wildly erratic stock market.
The see-sawing financial markets may provide one undercurrent of tension during the three-day tour; Bachmann, Perry, and Mitt Romney perhaps another. White House aides say not to expect a grand economic address during the trip, but Obama’s critics, which include Democrats, are watching and waiting.
“I continue to respect him greatly as a human being,’’ said Peter Buttenwieser, a major Democratic fundraiser who supports Obama’s re-election. “I consider him a friend. I’m extremely disappointed in the way in which he has conducted his presidency, above all on the jobs and economic issues.’’
Buttenwieser suggested that Obama deliver a game-changing speech on the economy on a par with the address Obama gave on race relations during the 2008 campaign.
“It has to be from the heart and it has to be both intellectual and emotional,’’ he said.
Paul Begala, a former campaign aide to Bill Clinton who now advises a political action committee, Priorities USA Action, started by two ex-Obama aides, called for “bold action.”
“The whole focus of the country for the last month has been on these terrible negotiations over the debt ceiling. That hurt everybody. He’s got to turn the page,’ Begala said. “The president can’t wave a magic wand, but he has the power to set the agenda. Now’s the time.’’

[American Patriot]

Lol, my hope is, that his Presidency provokes such a swing to the Right in this Country, that it never swings back to the Left again.

That won't ever happen.

I've seen 11 President's come and go, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama.

R,D,D,R,R,D,R,R,D,R,S

R= Republican
D= Democrat
S= Socialist

Now, if you note the Congress has for nearly 60 years been almost always more Left Leaning than Right leaning. Right now the House is Right leaning. The Senate is dominated by the left.

The Presidency is SOCIALIST even though he claims to be a Democrat. He's not, in neither actions, or words.

The Country is in nearly as bad a spot as it has been for 200 years - all based on the Liberal/Socialism push.

I expect to Obama soundly defeated because the majority of Americans don't like him at all.

But, I don't see us getting the Senate back this time around.

I also don't see us keeping a Republican (Conservative type) in the Presidency for more than a couple or three terms for sure. It rarely happens because everyone wants "change".

Obama offered them change loudly. They took it.

Now they crave it.

But the pendulum will swing Right, and eventually left again.

[American Patriot]

Only problem with the analogy is that it's just that-an analogy. What concerns me about the leftward trend you so ably show is that it is unsustainable.

Our Country can't survive further pendulum shifts to the Left. The whole political spectrum needs to lurch rightward, including the Democratic Party. If Rooseveldt or JFK saw their Party today, they would be appalled.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. We CAN NOT survive remaining on the Left side of the Pendulum swing. But, understand everything is rhythmic in life, not only sine waves and mathematics, but also in politics, social functions for people and life in general.

Politics more-so that most basically because people, generations change as they age. And new generations come into being with a completely different set of values from their parents.

My values and my fathers are the same - however, we are two sides of the political spectrum.

THEREIN lies the saving grace of our political system.

Dad who has been a Democrat all of his life and me, a Republican since Ronald Reagan (Democrat before, Jimmy Carter was my first Presidential vote - and wasted).

Dad is a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool American Hero, Marine, fought in some bloody battles in the Korean War and IS a Constitutionalist.

I was military for most of my life, I've found in combat but nothing like Dad did. I'm a Constiutionalist as well.

We both believe strongly in freedom of speech, and the bill of rights, are gun owners and would defend this country against invasion, him at 75 me at 54.

So you see, it's not so much the PARTY, but the aftermath of the party... (Liberal vs Conservative).