A Year after Election - Obama would lose re-election bid to any GOP candidate if elections was held today 45-49

Americans are a little less enthusiastic about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama this time around.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama if he was up for reelection right now. Forty-nine percent (49%) say they would be unlikely to vote for the president’s reelection.

Thirty-four percent (34%) would be very likely to support Obama, while 40% say they would be not at all likely to do so.

The question did not specify whom the president would be running against and also was asked of all adults as opposed to just likely voters. Obama carried 53% of the vote nationally over Republican candidate John McCain’s 46% in last November’s election.

As in that contest, women are more supportive of Obama than men. Adults 18 to 29 are more likely to vote for the president than those who are older. Ninety percent (90%) of African-Americans say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama, compared to 36% of whites.

Forty-two percent (42%) of all Americans rate the job Obama has been doing as president as good or excellent. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say he is doing a poor job.

The higher degree of skepticism about the president may be due in part to the finding that 48% of Americans say they are doing worse economically since Obama’s election. Just 16% say they are doing better, while 32% say they’re doing about the same.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans and 53% of unaffiliateds say they’re doing worse, while a plurality (45%) of Democrats say things are about the same.

Just one-in-three (33%) voters say the United States is heading in the right direction, while 62% believe it is heading down the wrong track.