February 09, 2010
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Zogby Interactive: Loss of Democrats' Support Helps Bring Obama Job Approval Down to 42%
Several Core Constituencies Souring on Obama
UTICA, New York - President Barack Obama's job approval rating is down to 42%, with a decline in approval from Democrats the leading factor.
The latest Zogby Interactive poll of 4,518 likely voters conducted from August 28-31 found 48% disapprove and 42% approve of the job Obama is doing. The poll found 75% of Democrats approve of Obama's performance, a drop of 13 points among Democrats from an interactive poll done July 21-24 of this year. That same poll found 48% of all likely voters approving of Obama's job performance, and 49% disapproving.
In the most recent poll, 8% of Republicans and 37% of Independents approve of Obama's job performance. Both are down slightly from six weeks ago; two points among Republicans and three among Independents.
The tables below compare changes from July 24 to Aug. 31 in Obama's job approval among some of the groups who were Obama's strongest supporters in the November election;
|
Democrats |
Aug. 31 |
July 24 |
|
Approve |
75% |
88% |
|
Disapprove |
13% |
10% |
|
Not Sure |
12% |
2% |
|
Liberals |
Aug. 31 |
July 24 |
|
Approve |
86% |
95% |
|
Disapprove |
4% |
4% |
|
Not Sure |
10% |
2% |
|
African-Americans |
Aug. 31 |
July 24 |
|
Approve |
74% |
83% |
|
Disapprove |
21% |
17% |
|
Not Sure |
5% |
.4% |
|
Ages 18-29 |
Aug. 31 |
July 24 |
|
Approve |
41% |
59% |
|
Disapprove |
41% |
38% |
|
Not Sure |
19% |
3% |
In the time between the two aforementioned polls, Zogby conducted a similar interactive survey from Aug. 18-20. That poll found 45% of all likely voters approving of Obama's job performance and 51% disapproving. So Obama is up very slightly overall from 10 days earlier.
The Aug. 28-31 poll also found that:
- 17% give Obama an excellent job rating, 25% rate him good, 16% fair and 41% poor. Combining the two highest and lowest rankings shows 42% rating Obama positively and 57% negatively. (This is the standard Zogby International has used for many years in measuring job performance.)
- Likely voters are closely split on whether they have a favorable opinion of Obama, with 50% favorable and 48% unfavorable. Democrats are more positive about Obama personally than they are of his job performance, with 85% rating him favorably.
- 52% of all likely voters are proud to have Obama as President, and 35% are ashamed. The percentage of those proud is unchanged from six weeks ago.
- A majority of likely voters (53%) believe the U.S. headed in the wrong direction, with 38% saying right direction.
The margin of error for the poll is +/- 1.5 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
Pollster John Zogby: President Obama is now firmly between a rock and a hard place. Democrats want a strong healthcare reform bill with a public option. Republicans and more conservative Democrats do not agree. If Obama fails to get a bill that his base supporters want, the entire Democratic Party risks alienating them; especially 18-29-year-old First GlobalsTM, who could very quickly become disenchanted with politics. Obama needs to enter the fray in a very public way, which may mean knocking heads with both wings of his own party.
For a complete methodological statement on this survey, please visit:
http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.cfm?ID=1413
(8/31/2009)
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