Over Three in Five Americans Give President Obama Negative Ratings

posted 27 Sept 2010, 04:25 by Sam Mbale [ updated 27 Sept 2010, 04:30 ]

Jobs and economy top list of most important issues to address

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Although President Obama continues to focus on the economy, especially jobs, it may prove to be a little too late for many of his constituents. More than three in five Americans (62%) give the president negative ratings on the overall job he is doing while fewer (38%) give him positive ratings. This is slightly lower than August, when 40% of U.S. adults gave him positive ratings and 60% gave him negative ones, now marking the lowest ratings of his presidency.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - TREND
	2010
	Jan	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	40	41	41	42	39	40	38
Excellent	9	9	9	10	6	9	9
Pretty good	31	32	31	32	33	31	29
NEGATIVE	60	59	59	58	61	60	62
Only fair	30	28	26	28	29	26	28
Poor	30	31	33	30	32	34	34

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,620 adults surveyed online between September 14 and 20, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Looking at President Obama's ratings from a political perspective, Republicans are the most likely to give him negative ratings (93%) followed by Conservatives (86%), while Liberals and Democrats are most likely to give him positive marks (69% and 67%, respectively). Independents, however, give him more negative than positive marks, as seven in ten of them (69%) give the President negative ratings on his job compared to 31% positive.

There are regional differences in the president's support, as well. Almost half of those living in the East (47%) give him positive marks, as do 42% of Westerners. However, almost seven in ten Southerners (68%) and two-thirds of Midwesterners (67%) give President Obama negative ratings. Interestingly, there is no evidence of a gender gap. Over three in five men (63%) and women (62%) give the president negative marks on his job performance.

Direction of country

Attitudes toward the country as a whole have improved slightly since early this summer. In June, just one-third (34%) of Americans thought the country was going in the right direction. In August, that number inched up to 35% and currently it stands at 36%.

RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK
	TREND	Right Direction	Wrong Track
	TREND	%	%
2010	September	36	64
	August	35	65
	June	34	66
	April	39	61
	March	33	67
	January	37	63

Most important issue to address

However, concern over jobs and the economy has increased. In June, just over one-quarter of Americans said the most important issues to address were employment/jobs (28%) and the economy (28%). This has definitely not changed and even more Americans believe these issues need to be addressed. Now, over one-third (37%) of U.S. adults say employment or jobs is the most important issue and 34% say it is the economy.

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR G OVERNMENT TO ADDRESS
	2010	2010
	June	Sept
	%	%
Employment/jobs	28	37
The economy (non-specific)	28	34
Healthcare (not Medicare)	23	24
Budget/Government spending	10	11
Immigration	12	10
Taxes	4	7
Budget deficit/National debt	8	6
Education	6	6
(The) war	6	4
Environment	7	3

So What?

Not surprisingly, the mantra from the 1992 campaign continues to hold true – it is the economy. And until people feel better about jobs and the money they can save and spend, they are looking for a scapegoat. Right now, the focus is on one person – the president and they are looking to him for answers. Unfortunately, his numbers will continue to be low until those answers are provided.

TABLE 1 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - TREND "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
	2009									2010
	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	55	58	59	54	51	49	45	43	41	40	41	41	42	39	40	38
Excellent	17	18	17	14	11	11	10	9	7	9	9	9	10	6	9	9
Pretty good	38	40	42	39	39	38	35	33	33	31	32	31	32	33	31	29
NEGATIVE	45	42	41	46	49	51	55	57	59	60	59	59	58	61	60	62
Only fair	27	26	25	25	25	25	27	29	30	30	28	26	28	29	26	28
Poor	18	15	16	21	24	26	28	29	30	30	31	33	30	32	34	34
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING – BY PARTY & IDEOLOGY "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
		Political party			Political Philosophy
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.	Cons.	Mod.	Lib.
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	38	7	67	31	14	39	69
Excellent	9	2	18	4	4	6	22
Pretty good	29	4	49	26	10	33	48
NEGATIVE	62	93	33	69	86	61	31
Only fair	28	28	24	32	21	36	22
Poor	34	66	9	37	65	25	9
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; * indicates less than .5%

TABLE 3 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING – BY REGION, EDUCATION & GENDER "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
		Region				Education				Gender
	Total	East	Midwest	South	West	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad	Post grad	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	38	47	33	32	42	35	38	37	50	37	38
Excellent	9	12	7	7	10	9	8	9	10	11	7
Pretty good	29	35	26	25	31	26	31	28	40	26	31
NEGATIVE	62	53	67	68	58	65	62	63	50	63	62
Only fair	28	27	33	27	28	29	29	28	24	26	30
Poor	34	26	34	41	31	36	33	35	26	36	32
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4 RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK "Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?" Base: All adults
	TREND	Right Direction	Wrong Track
	TREND	%	%
2010	September	36	64
	August	35	65
	June	34	66
	April	39	61
	March	33	67
	January	37	63
2009	December	37	63
	August	46	54
	March	32	68
	January	19	72
2008	October	11	83
	February	23	69
2007	December	18	74
	February	29	62
2006	May	24	69
	February	32	59
2005	November	27	68
	January	46	48
2004	September	38	57
	June	35	59
2003	December	35	57
	June	44	51
2002	December	36	57
	June	46	48
2001	December	65	32
	June	43	52
2000	October	50	41
	June	40	51
1999	June	37	55
	March	47	45
1998	December	43	51
	June	48	44
1997	December	39	56
	April	36	55
1996	December	38	50
	June	29	64
1995	December	26	62
	June	24	65
1994	December	29	63
	June	28	65
1993	June	21	70
	March	39	50
1992	June	12	81
	January	20	75
1991	December	17	75
	January	58	32
Note: Prior to March, 2009 this question was asked via telephone

TABLE 5 MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS "What do you think are the two most important issues for the government to address?" Spontaneous, unprompted replies Base: All adults
	'97	'98	'99	'00	'01	'02	'03	'04	'05	'06	07	08	09	09	10	10	10	10
	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	June	Oct	Oct	Mar	Nov	Jan	Apr	June	Sept
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Employment/jobs	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	7	5	5	21	24	31	34	28	37
The economy (non-specific)	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	14	13	64	50	34	32	27	28	34
Healthcare (not Medicare)	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	12	25	22	25	47	45	34	23	24
Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	5	6	2	6	11	7	9	10	11
Immigration	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	20	12	3	4	5	5	7	12	10
Taxes	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	4	3	6	4	4	4	7	4	7
Budget deficit/National debt	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	3	X	X	8	8	6
Education	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	7	6	6	5	5	5	6	6	6
(The) war	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	24	14	9	9	2	6	6	4
Environment	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	3	3	2	3	4	3	3	7	3
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	4	4	*	1	2	2	1	1	2
Downsizing government	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	1	1	*	1	2	2	3	2	2
Housing	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	*	1	2	2	6	1	1	1	1	2
Social security	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	5	3	3	1	2	1	2	2	2
Regulating banking/financial services	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	8	1	3	4	2	2
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	4	4	3	4	3	6	2	3	2
Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	2	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	2
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Afghanistan	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2
National security	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	2	5	2	1	4	3	2	2
Business accountability/bailouts	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	1	4	3	1	1	2	5	1
Obama/president	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	1
Welfare	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	2	*	*	1	*	1	1	1
Military/defense	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	4	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Human/civil/women's rights	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	2	*	*	1	1	*	1	1
Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	*	1	1	1
Religion (decline of)	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	1	1	1
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1
Homelessness	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	3	*	*	1	1	*	*	1
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	8	2	1	1	1	*	1	*	1
Crime/violence	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1
Same sex rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	*	*	1	1	1	1	*	*
Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	2	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	*
Medicare	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	1	3	2	*	*	*	*	*	*
Iraq	*	*	1	X	X	11	3	9	6	8	14	7	2	4	2	2	2	*
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	*	*	1	*	*	*	*	*	*
Abortion	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	*	*	*
Family values (decline of)	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	*	*	X	*	*	x	*
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	2	3	*	1	1	*	*	*	*
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	2	*
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	2	*	*	*	*	1	*	*
Socialism agenda/country's socialism	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	1	*	*	*
Programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	*	*	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	*	*
Drugs	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	3	*	1	*	*	1	*	*
Oil Spill in Gulf/BP oil spill	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	20	x