Obama slumps to lowest ratings of his presidency

On Tuesday night President Obama will deliver one of the most important political addresses of his presidency, trying to convince a war-weary American public to support his call for military intervention in Syria.

Having casually drawn a red line in the sand on the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, Obama’s own credibility – not that of the United States – is on the line. But he faces an uphill struggle to win over public opinion, and is almost certainly heading for a heavy defeat on Capitol Hill, where opposition is mounting among Members of Congress.

The scale of the challenge for Mr. Obama is encapsulated in a new poll released by Fox News (conducted by both Democratic and Republican pollsters), which shows the president’s approval rating falling to 40 percent, the lowest level of support in his presidency (on par with December 2010). Obama’s disapproval stands at 54 percent, the highest negative rating he has received since taking office. Read more >>

For First Time Majority Finds President Untrustworthy

Whatever the deteriorating economy could not achieve (courtesy of Ben Bernanke's relentless bubble blowing and pumping of the S&P 500-driven "wealth effect" distraction) for the past four years, one NSA whistleblower succeeded in a few short days, when earlier today, CNN - hardly a media known for its criticism of the administration - released a new poll according to which not only did Obama's approval rating drop by 8% in the past month, "one of the sharpest, fastest plunges in his presidency" to 45% from 53% (the first time the majority had a negative opinion of the president), not only did the majority find Obama to not be honest and trustworthy for the first time ever in his presidency, but Obama's support with one of his core constituencies - young Americans under 30 - imploded, plunging by 17 points. CNN adds:

"That's particularly discouraging heading into 2014 because Democrats have felt they have a lock on the youth vote after the 2012 elections. "The drop in Obama's support is fueled by a dramatic 17-point decline over the past month among people under 30, who, along with black Americans, had been the most loyal part of the Obama coalition," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said."

Ted Turner's news network adds the following:

The president also dropped 10 points among independent voters, from 47 percent last month to 37 percent. Obama's disapproval among independents jumped 12 points to 61 percent. Again, more bad news for Democrats because those independents are especially important in mid-term elections in which older, more conservative Americans predominate.

The network pointed to several major scandals as evidence for the drop.

"The White House has been under siege over telephone and Internet surveillance, the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups, its handling of the terror attack on the U.S. consular post in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department's collecting journalists' phone records as part of the government's investigation into leaks of classified information," CNN reported.

"It is clear that revelations about NSA surveillance programs have damaged Obama's standing with the public, although older controversies like the IRS matter may have begun to take their toll as well," Holland told the network. Read more >>

US polls show lowest approval for Obama, Congress

www.presstv.ir
New US polls show the lowest job approval rating for President Barack Obama as well as a declining endorsement of the already low-regarded Congress among the American public.

For the first time, according to the latest opinion polls, Obama appears to mirror his predecessor George W. Bush as his disapproval ratings exceed his approval figures.

Results of the latest Gallup poll on Obama's Job performance suggests a 61% disapproval score, while most polls place his disapproval figure at the 48% mark.

Some political analysts link Obama's disapproval rating to the persisting high jobless rate in the US.

"His approval rating track almost perfectly with the unemployment rate. So it turns out you would expect him whatever he had done, just given these economic conditions, you would expect an approval rating of below 50 percent," Thomas Mann of the political think-tank Brookings Institution told Press TV's Mike Kellerman.

Yet, there are others who think that the US president's efforts in polarizing the nation's political parties account for Obama's low approval numbers.

"I think one of the problem is he's polarized this government more than an other president [in American] history. He campaigned on being bipartisan and I think in the one year he has been in the office, he has really polarized the country and made that a lot worse in the political environment," an Obama supporter told the Press TV correspondent.

The US Congress, on the other hand, does much worse than Obama in the polls.

Nine out of 10 Americans maintain that Congress is doing a terrible job.

The new Harris poll finds that only 10 percent of Americans believe Congress is doing a good Job, down from 16 percent in January. That also constitutes an all-time low.

Poll: 80 percent of Americans think Washington is broken

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Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of Americans think that their federal government is gridlocked by partisan infighting and turf battles and can't accomplish anything, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll.

Yet the anger and frustration with Washington aren't directed solely at either party and don't automatically add up to a tidal wave against the governing Democrats in this year's elections for control of Congress, the poll suggested.

In fact, Americans tilt slightly against Republicans as to which party they blame more. They also give a 10-point edge to Democrats when they're asked which party they'd vote for if the congressional elections were today.

"Overall, the poll suggests a level of disgust with politics as usual," said Clifford Young, a senior vice president with Ipsos Public Affairs, which conducted the survey. "Americans are basically angry at incumbents and Washington. This isn't necessarily directed at any one party. I have my doubts about whether the Democrats will be obliterated. Yes, they'll lose seats, but there is a general backlash against all incumbents."

Four out of five Americans, 80 percent, said that Washington couldn't accomplish anything because of fighting between the political parties and branches of the government, the poll found. Only 17 percent disagreed.

The sentiment is deeply held: Fifty-one percent strongly agree that gridlock renders the government impotent. It's also felt across the political spectrum, with 81 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents agreeing that the government is bogged down.

Underscoring the public disgust: The ranks of people who think the country is on the right track hit the lowest level since President Barack Obama took office last year — only 34 percent. Almost twice as many — 60 percent — said it was on the wrong track.

The country's mood improved at first under Obama, with those saying that the country was headed in the right direction rising from 42 percent shortly after he took office to a high of 55 percent in early May. It's dropped ever since, rooted in anxiety about recession and unemployment, and perhaps disgust with Washington.

The poll measured sentiment at a time when Washington appears unable to solve major problems, such as overhauling health care and taming the national debt, or even routine tasks, such as extending unemployment benefits. A single lawmaker, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has blocked a $10 billion bill that's needed to extend those benefits, as well as highway projects and Medicare payments to doctors.

As Democrats spotlight Bunning's move in order to turn opinion against Republicans, Americans remain divided over which party to blame. The poll found 33 percent blaming Republicans for a broken Washington and 27 percent blaming Democrats, with 2 percent blaming both parties, 5 percent unsure and 17 percent saying that Washington isn't broken at all.

While partisans tended to blame the other party, independents split almost evenly, with 18 percent blaming Democrats and 16 percent blaming Republicans. The biggest bloc of independents, 38 percent, agreed that Washington is broken but neither party is to blame.

Looking ahead to November's elections, 50 percent said they'd vote for Democratic candidates if the election were today, while 40 percent said they'd vote for Republicans.

Obama's approval rating was 53 percent, up 3 points from the end of January. The poll was taken Friday through Sunday, just after the president hosted his daylong bipartisan conference on health care.

"The conventional wisdom is that Democrats are totally lost and the Republicans are gaining ground," Young said. "The situation is a little more complex than that."

On the top national issue now in the news, 47 percent of Americans said they opposed the health care proposals that Obama and Congress were discussing, while 41 percent supported them.

Of "no" voters, 54 percent said they opposed the proposals because they went "too far," while 37 percent said they opposed them because they "don't go far enough."

Of "yes" voters, 78 percent said they thought that the proposals went far enough to fix health care, while 12 percent said they supported them because they didn't want health care overhauled and they thought that the proposals went so far that Congress would never pass them.

METHODOLOGY:

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted Friday through Sunday. For the survey, Ipsos interviewed a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of 1,076 people 18 and older across the United States. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 2.99 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including coverage and measurement error. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the U.S. population according to U.S. Census figures. Respondents had the option to be interviewed in English or Spanish.

Gallup Poll: Obama's Approval Among Whites Down to 39%

Jeffrey M. Jones
Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites

by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- Since the start of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined more among non-Hispanic whites than among nonwhites, and now, fewer than 4 in 10 whites approve of the job Obama is doing as president.

Obama last week fell below 50% approval in Gallup Daily tracking for the first time in his presidency, both in daily three-day rolling averages and in Gallup Daily tracking results aggregated weekly.

"The only subgroup showing a greater change than whites is Republicans, down 24 points since Obama's first full week in office."

In his first full week in office (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), an average of 66% of Americans approved of the job Obama was doing, including 61% of non-Hispanic whites and 80% of nonwhites. In the most recent week, spanning Nov. 16-22 interviewing, his approval rating averaged 49% overall, 39% among whites, and 73% among nonwhites. Thus, since the beginning of his presidency, his support has dropped 22 points among whites, compared with a 7-point loss among nonwhites.

Given the 17-point drop in his approval rating among all U.S. adults, it follows that Obama's support has declined among all major demographic and attitudinal subgroups, with one notable exception -- blacks.

Blacks' support for Obama has averaged 93% during his time in office, and has been at or above 90% nearly every week during his presidency. Thus, part of the reason Obama's support among nonwhites has not dropped as much as his support among other groups is because of his consistent support from blacks. (With Hispanics' approval rating down five points, greater declines among Asians, Native Americans, and those of mixed races account for his total seven-point drop among nonwhites.)

The accompanying table shows how Obama's approval rating has changed by subgroup from his first full week in office to the most recent week. The only subgroup showing a greater change than whites is Republicans, down 24 points during this time. Independents' approval of Obama has declined nearly as much (down 18 points), whereas support among Democrats is down only 6 points.

Obama's strongest support comes from blacks, Democrats, and liberals -- all of whom give him approval ratings above 80%. He maintains solid support of more than 60% from nonwhites, Hispanics, and young adults.

A Closer Look at Race and Party

One reason Obama may have maintained support among blacks is their overwhelming affiliation with the Democratic Party. This is not a sufficient explanation, though, because Obama's approval rating has dropped among Democrats even as it has held steady among blacks.

In fact, it appears as though Obama's relatively small loss in support among Democrats has come exclusively from white Democrats. In late January/early February, Obama averaged 87% approval among white Democrats and 90% approval among nonwhite Democrats. Now, his approval rating among white Democrats is 76%, down 11 points, but is essentially the same (if not a little higher) at 92% among nonwhite Democrats.

Bottom Line

Obama won the Democratic nomination and the presidency with strong support from blacks and other racial minorities. In fact, according to exit polls and Gallup's final pre-election estimates, he won the election despite losing by double digits to John McCain among white voters.

Those patterns of support seem to have persisted into his presidency, with his support among whites starting out lower and dropping faster than his support among nonwhites. And though he maintains widespread loyalty among Democrats, the small loss in support he has seen from his fellow partisans seems to be exclusively from white Democrats.

It is important to note that this pattern is not unique to Obama. For example, Bill Clinton averaged 55% job approval during his presidency, including 52% among whites but a much higher 76% among nonwhites and 82% among blacks.