Obama Approval Rating Dips
One thing’s for sure: During hard economic times, no president is popular. In a recent poll, it was found that President Barack Obama’s popularity has slipped to below 50 percent. Other surveys find him at about 50 percent, meaning half of the country gives him a thumbs-up. The the other half, not so much.
According to two separate surveys taken by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. and Quinnipiac University, the president’s approval rating stands at or below 50 percent. That’s seven points down from a survey done in December.
The CNN poll indicates that the greatest drop in approval comes from non-college-educated white voters. According to Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director, the numbers show that the growing disapproval stems from the jack of jobs and other domestic issues, as opposed to the decision making in his war strategy.
More than half of those polled said they approved the recent decision to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, and three-quarters approve the decision to begin troop removal by the year 2011. The poll also seemed to reveal that Americans don’t blame Obama for the war, but rather the previous president.
In polls taken in November, Obama’s approval rating had already begun to slip to 52 and 53 percent. Prior to Thanksgiving, however, when Obama announced his plans for Afghanistan, his approval nosedived to 49%.
Among those whites who attended college, his approval rating dropped only 4 points, compared to 18 points for non-college whites. And, while his approval dropped 15 percent for whites under 50, it only dropped 4 percentage points for older whites. Approval from white women took a 12 point dive. White women and younger people, it’s estimated, are the among the hardest groups hit during the rise of unemployment.
It does help to keep things in perspective. Former President Ronald Reagan had a 48 percent approval rating in 1981, his first year as president, and held below that mark for a couple of years. During former President Bill Clinton’s presidency, his approval rating in one poll taken quickly fell below 50 percent.
Besides unemployment, the health care issue has caused some major loss in approval points. In a Quinnipiac University poll, more than half seem unhappy with the health-care initiative presented before congress. Still, 44 percent to 37 percent trust Obama more than congressional Republicans on the issue of health care. In a poll taken in July on the same issue, Obama’s rating was at 53 percent to 33 percent.
In the Quinnipiac poll, 44 percent of people approved of the president’s handling of the economy, while 54 percent disapprove. Almost three-quarters of those polled said they were dissatisfied with the direction the country was going, and 29 present were satisfied, while only 3 percent were "very satisfied." Interestingly, according ot the Quinnipiac survey, the president’s support “declines as one goes up the age and income scale.”
It seems apparent that during a recession coupled withe a war, a president doesn’t win popularity contests. Obama has three years for these percentage points to change. The fate of the economy is one of the biggest scale tippers in the equation. Interestingly, though, a majority of those polled believe that Obama’s policies will help the economy.
Quinnipiac University is a private college in Hamden, Connecticut with 5,700 undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate students. The university surveyed 2,313 registered voters nationwide between December 1 and 6. The survey held by CNN/Opinion Research was given by telephone and 1,041 people were questioned.
