Friday, February 12, 2010

Its Obama, Stupid! CBS poll: Economy Brings Down Obama's Job Approval Rating to 46%

(CBS).As the lagging economy continues to weigh on people's minds, the American public is more disapproving than ever of President Obama's job performance, the latest CBS News/New York Times poll finds.

Mr. Obama's job approval rating stands at 46 percent, matching his previous low from early January. As many as 45 percent of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing – his highest disapproval rating to date. More than anything, Americans are critical of how Mr. Obama is handling domestic issues like the economy.

More Americans approve than disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing handling terrorism (55 percent) and foreign policy (47 percent), but the president scores poorly on domestic issues. More than half of Americans disapprove of how he is handling the economy, health care reform and the federal budget deficit.

And in terms of changing the way things are done in Washington -– a promise Mr. Obama campaigned on -– half think he has not made much progress, including one in five who say he has not made any progress at all.

While Americans are split on whether they approve of how the president is doing his job, slightly more people still have a favorable opinion of him, at 39 percent to 34 percent.

The president has clearly slipped in public estimation in the last few months when it comes to economic issues – which Americans name as the most important problem facing the country. Fifty-two percent of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the economy. Additionally, 58 percent disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the budget deficit, up 15 points from July.

Most Americans do not think the president has a clear plan for creating jobs. While 39 percent say he does, 56 percent say he does not.

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" (Churchill)