Obama approval rating sinks to 50%: poll
Published: August 6, 2009
Updated 7 months ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama’s approval rating has slumped to 50 percent, the lowest since his inauguration, according to a poll released Thursday on the eve of his 200th day in office.
Quinnipiac University said the president’s job approval rating dipped to 50-versus-42 percent, a reflection of growing unease over Obama’s handling of the economy, which sank into a devastating recession last year prompting his administration to unleash a deficit-stretching stimulus package, and health care which faces a critical overhaul in Congress.
The figure is a substantial drop from the 57-33 percent approval rating he had on July 2, and far less than the glowing numbers he enjoyed in the honeymoon first 100 days of his tenure.
The poll of 2,409 registered voters nationwide conducted July 27 to August 3 found they disapproved 49-45 percent of the way Obama was handling the economy, and disapproved 52-39 percent on his handling of health care, but approved 52-38 percent of his foreign policy.
But while Republicans disapproved of the Democratic president’s job performance by an expectedly large margin of 77-16 percent, the poll found that Americans disapproved 59-29 percent of how Republicans in Congress were doing their job and that they trusted Obama over Republicans 47-36 percent to fix the economy and 46-37 percent to deal with health care.
“The president is right on the magic 50-percent threshold in public approval because of bad grades on the economy and even worse grades on health care,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s Polling Institute.
“The good news… is that American voters still see him as better able to handle the economy and health care than Republicans in Congress,” Brown said. “The bad news is his margins are shrinking.”
On July 21 a USA Today/Gallup poll found Obama’s approval rating was 55 percent six months into his presidency, one point lower than that of his predecessor George W. Bush at the same point in his tenure.
The Quinnipiac poll said 93 percent of respondents described the US economy as “not so good” or “poor,” with just 28 percent saying it is improving, and 29 percent saying it is getting worse. Forty-one percent saw no change.
The survey also found that “by a 49-33 percent margin, voters think his policies will help the economy, but they believe, 36-33 percent, that Obama’s policies will hurt their personal financial situation,” Brown said.
Obama has pledged to overhaul the US health care system. He and most Democratic lawmakers want to introduce a public coverage option, while many Republican members of Congress and some conservative Democrats are against the idea.
On Tuesday a Harris Interactive online survey showed a majority of Americans are in favor, 52-30 percent, of having a government-run, health care option as proposed by Obama.
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50% ?? My, my, Obama. You’d better start throwing some damn neocon criminals in jail, fool!
Yeah, stop trying to please everyone, do your damn job and stop giving war criminals a free pass, it’s destroying our country and world stablity.
All this means is that the lies, disinformation and other baseless propaganda spread by Fox, Limbaugh & Co. are working.
Yes, because it’s a lie he still hasn’t pulled out of Iraq, he’s still killing innocents in Pakistan, he has escalated the war in Afghanistan, he continues the War on Drugs, advocates for Preventative Detention, bails out Goldman Sachs and all of the corporate masters he servers.
Man, that propaganda is some strong shit!! It’s like, SO real!!
Fortunately, they are only working on the idiots among us.
Suspect poll. Other polls don’t agree. Look at Daily Kos’ poll. They were right on in last election. Poll answers are dictated by who you ask, in what numbers, what you ask and the way you ask. You can get one to boost just about any position under the sun. That being said, any decrease in Obama’s support could very well come from progressives unsatisfied with his middle of the road course- especially his ignoring of Bush administration crimes.
It doesn’t matter. Most people are ticked off with Obama about something at the moment. But 2012 is three years away and he should win a second term. Who will beat him? The GOP has nothing but foolish old idiots and foolish young hicks. They bring nothing to the party. No track record of success, no new ideas.
Meanwhile, the economy is slowly getting better, we are getting out of Iraq, the detainees are being dealt with, and so on. You can’t expect Obama to deal with the effects of 8 years of GOP misrule in just 6 months. Change is hard, especially for neo-cons and even moderates. You have to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
“Change is hard, especially for neo-cons and even moderates. ”
I wonder how many in the poll were disappointed progressives like me who are stunned not only by the LACK of change Obama’s made in Bush’s policies but that he’s become Bush’s surrogate regarding 1) the war in Afghanistan; 2) all aspects of the detainees/Gitmo/rendition to the point of holding some of them forever without trials; 3) turning a blind eye to the crimes of the Bushies; 4) continuing Draconian environmental policies (mountaintop removal, issuing oil leases near national parks, logging in wilderness areas), and so on and so on.
No, he’s not Bush or McCain, but then he’s not the Obama he led us to believe he was during the campaign, either.
He’s going to sink even lower after the anti-war movement starts picking up some steam this October. If he wants to be a phony, he’s doing so at his own peril, because we’re going to shut him down.
And if not, I guess that will just show that Obama voters really just didn’t like Bush’s face and that they have no problem with endless war.
I am not sure I would believe the polls…but I will say after six months of watching President Obama back-pedal on just about every issue..even with the Democratic majority we voted in for him, to make his “change” agenda possible..I have only seen the same old business as usual…broken campaign promises, (He SAID a robust public option..he could have pushed for Medi-Care for all…what the hell, he is so wishy-washy I don’t think we will get either!!) coddling big business (taking advice from Geithner and Summer…. of the crooks who got us into this mess…why not listen to Krugman..? Oh thats right Wall Street won’t let you listen to Krugman, will they, Mr. President..?) and allowing the Bush criminals to “walk” on torture and treason..he is just another weak Democrat, nothing special..if he really wanted change he would make it happen..! instead of just whispering ” Please…?” Too early for me to tell if I will vote for him again…still waiting for that “change” to “trickle down” to me
Sigh. We are such an instant gratification society - everyone wants everything NOW, not two minutes from now, but now. I can understand this trait in kids, however, shame on adults for still clinging to it. No wonder today’s kids have the patience of fucking gnats - just look at the parents!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It took us a few years to get to this point, it’s certainly going to take more than six months to dig ourselves out of this shit-hole. And, the only way to get things done is to just fucking do it - if the children in the GOP don’t want to grow up and get serious, ram the legislation down its throat. A majority of us voted for change, and, since it’s abundantly obvious the GOP would rather keep the rest of us beholdened to corporate America, and the wealthy, fuck ‘em, do it without them!
The time for playing nice is long gone.
Exactly what were the questions asked in this “poll”?
and
Who “paid” for it?
Play around with vipers and you will get virulent systemic poisoning.
In protecting the coterie of Republicans and Democrats who have confirmed Washington as headquarters for international rapine and special interest corruption, Mr. Obama and /or his administration have declared themselves complicit in crime.
Bathing in self assured arrogance, Obama believes himself, as George W. Bush did, to be impervious to condemnation while his lofty ideals and principles are dragged in the gutter by Republican con artists.
It is not the economy (a Bushist legacy) or health care (a Pharma conspiracy) stupid!
It’s the betrayal felt by most of the population, more and more consciously, as a consequence of Obama’s failure to bring Republican scum and torturers to justice.
Lie down with Republicans and wake up with constitutional plague.
.
FICKLE AMERICANS LONG FOR HOURLY POLLS AS OBAMA NUMBERS DROP
– Bedeviled Bourgeois Blame Stymied Reformer For Decades Of Gov’t, CEO Malfeasance —
– Uppity New Prez Vilified For Not Cleaning Up BushCO Messes In 200 Days –
i am still waiting for the change face it folks we were taking for suckers by obama he is just a 2 face lier
and until we face the fact that the person that plays the role of the president is nothing but a actor hired to play president
the real powers that be give us a great actor and we fall for it hook line in sinker like the suckers we are i am not one of those suckers
being president is like a broadway play that last 40 years the charactors stay the same but the actors come and go and you no the show must go on
Obama is losing confidence from the progressive side of the Democratic Party and progressive Independents. He’s never had the support of the Republicans or conservatives and never will. They are never going to like him because they are ideologically rigid and dislike him because he’s black. If you are unsure, watch the film footage of the tea-baggers and manufactured mob’s at town halls. These people are angry and mean and it’s not about health-care. It’s about having an uppity black man in the White House who’s going to take away their guns, kill their grannies, and let the terrorists win because he’s secretly a Muslim who likes Gay Socialists. He’s the antichrist.
So unless Obama stops trying to pacify the screaming racists Republicans in an effort to claim “bipartisanship” as everyone likes to call it, then he is going to continue to lose support from those of us who elected him for real change. Taking single-payer off the table was a slap in the face to progressives and a give-away to the health care industry. The bank bail-outs were a give-away to the corporatist bankers on Wall Street. He’s pandering to the moneyed interests and hiding the White House logs of what coporate fat cat or lobby group is meeting with him regarding the formulation of national policy. This is not any different from the Cheney administration.
Honestly, no pollster has EVER polled me. You have to have a landline phone or what? Of course that would explain why older people get polled regularly and why these polls are not accurate.
whenpigsfly: Yes, it’s disappointing, but Obama is a capitalist and a pragmatist. He campaigned from the middle left and (surprise!) is governing from the left middle. To understand him you have to realize that all the issues you mentioned are important but that they will get in the way of what he sees as what we need most right now and what will be his legacy: affordable health care for all Americans. This is a huge order, to do it he has to be a uniter not a divider. The other stuff he’d have an uphill fight on anyway, no guarantee that he’d get what he wanted - and he wouldn’t get the health care legislation passed. If Obama has his way, Americans will have health care forever… and the neocons will all be dead anyway. Going into Afghanistan and holding some detainees and so on are bones he’s throwing to the military (funny how they support him, huh?) and the wimpy right-wingers and moderates who wet their pants whenever they hear “9/11.” Obama is smarter than most people gives him credit for.
One thing I thought that Obama would do that he hasn’t is to identify EXACTLY the threat posed by terrorism and how EXACTLY we should be concerned.
But he hasn’t. It’s just the same old rubbish: we know and you don’t.
i voted for change, all i got was chump change! FUCK EM!
AIPAC 9/11 Banker Puppets
Extortion Blackmail Bribery
Left and rights of passage
Black and whites of youth
Who can face the knowledge
That the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete absolute
Absalom
Absalom
Absalom
7 months and all you got was chump change? Either you are ignorant of all that has been done in the 7 months, are too lazy to research for yourself so you listen to talk television and talk radio to do your thinking for you. People apparently voted for the “change” that someone else should enact, while they sat on their asses and waited for it to happen. Chump change? I’d say “lazy ass” change.
To: rikitikitavii
You theorize that:
“all the issues you mentioned are important but that they will get in the way of what [Obama] sees as what we need most right now and what will be his legacy: affordable health care for all Americans”.
That might be a credible real politiks justification for Obama’s breach of fundamental ethics in his complicity with the neocons and their internationally condemned criminal agenda.
Your theory suggests that, in Obama’s game plan, “the ends justify the means” and therefore, protection of Bushist torturers and con men is deemed required to achieve his increasingly waterd down health care goals.
In playing this game, Obama will achieve nothing other than a pactoid with the scum who rule the Washington special interest sewers.
And he will have lost an increasingly slim opportunity to reverse America’s rush to political and economic irrelevance in relation to the planet’s new powerhouses.
Play with vipers…..
7 months of a 4 year term. Breathless, breathless, breathless. I don’t think President Obama cares about his polls, I think he cares about getting something done. I am as liberal as it gets, but I am not willing to call his presidency “doomed” because people are buying in to republican spin. What the hell was the 2008 election for? We were hyped up, fired up and ready to go! I guess people think that Rush Limbaugh is right and that the president is “Barak the magic negro!” What the hell is he supposed to do? Wave a magic wand and erase the past 8 years? Are you ready to get up and be heard like these racist wack-a-doodle right wing thugs, are are you going to get off your butts and do something more than post on Raw Story. I am, and I continue to do fight back like my president asked me to do during his campaign, because I don’t ever, ever, ever want to let this country be controlled again by the right wing corporate party who is filled with racists, sexists, corporatists. This crap isn’t about anything other keeping the rich, white power structure in place. They have used gullible, uneducated and poor white people to do it for them.
Marie:
You ask:
“What the hell is [Obama] supposed to do?”
There is no ‘hell’ other than the abject capitulation by Obama to the cohort of lobbyists and Goldman Sachs con artitsts to whom he has sold his personal and political integrity.
You state:
“I don’t ever, ever, ever want to let this country be controlled again by the right wing corporate party who is filled with racists, sexists, corporatists”
If you mean that, you best let Obama know that you have not elected him to coddle Bushist torturers and Wall Street con artists and to fill his administration with corporate lobbyists, a policy which he himslef railed against while he sought your vote.
Obama will not effect “change” by protecting and promoting the perpetrators of Washington’s nauseous corruption and by singing the “bi-partisan” mantra with political thugs.