Obama's Approval Rating on Economy Drops

Topics: Economy ,; Polling

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

Economists have declared the economic recession over largely over, but most Americans don't share their optimism, and they are increasingly blaming President Obama for their money woes.

Mr. Obama's approval rating on the economy has tumbled five percentage points from last month, according to a new CBS News poll, with just 40 percent of those polled expressing full confidence in his actions.

More than half of those questioned (54 percent) said they disapproved of Mr. Obama's handling of the economy. Last month, 45 percent approved. The drop in approval has been seen mostly among independents, just 35 percent of whom now say they approve.

Three in four Americans think the effects of the recession will linger for another two years or more. Just 20 percent said they believed the recession's aftereffects would continue to weigh on their lives and livelihoods for another year or less. The public is generally more pessimistic now than in February.

The national unemployment rate continues to hover just beneath the 10 percent mark, and it is estimated that many more Americans are underemployed - meaning they have given up looking for a full-time job, or are working fewer hours than they would like.

The poll shows widespread concern among Americans when it comes to employment. Seven in ten Americans rated the job market in their area "fair" or "very bad"; only a quarter of those polled described it as "good".

There did appear to be some optimism that the job market would improve over the next year -- but not a lot. While 28 percent said they expected the job market in their area to get better over the next year, twice as many -- 56 percent -- said it would likely remain the same. Another 14 percent predicted even fewer available jobs in the coming years.

CBS News Poll Database

Tune-in to the "CBS Evening News" Tuesday night to see the full results of the poll.

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 966 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone July 9-12, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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by dblaess July 15, 2010 2:10 PM EDT: My brother in law in talking about George W. Bush said "I never believed one person could do so much damage to the country". He was right. President Obama has done this much and much more to come damage to this country.; Reply to this comment

by agotech July 15, 2010 12:10 PM EDT

Employment is not something you can create by decree. Employment comes from goods produced and market for the goods. Goods without market do not bring income, and without income, you cannot pay salaries. What is wrong is not the President. It is the notion that people "live to work instead of working to live". The solution would be to reduce working hours for everybody so that you need people to occupy the difference between "demanded working hours minus available working hours". For example, if there is work for 56,000 hours to be done by people working 8 hours per day, you will need 7,000 people to do the work; if you reduce the working time to 7 hours per day, you will need 8000 people to do the same work. Each person would earn only 7/8 of the original salary in exchange for 1 free hour. Because a person would have one free hour but less pay, he can afford to walk or cycle to or from work and save the money for motorized transport to compensate the difference in pay. In overall: everybody would be employed and the quality of life would remain more or less the same, walking to work would make one healthy and help save the expenses for fitness studio. The shortcoming of this approach is the overheads like insurance, pension and holiday payments. But, it would be possible to regulate these as well. The problem needs international approach to harmonize competitiveness. The UN is the right body to solve unemployment worldwide.

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by dblaess July 15, 2010 2:03 PM EDT: what a great utopia you call for. Taxes could go up so much more.


by stinky6929 July 15, 2010 3:29 PM EDT: This has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever read. I think I actually got a little dumber just reading it. People like you will make sure there will never be a short supply of con men like Obama and Al Gore. Absolutely idotic.

by attewode July 15, 2010 12:10 PM EDT

Race and gender should not the issue. Yes, he is our first black President and I hope someday I will see a female President. I am white and a Vietnam Veteran. I did not vote for Obama. However at next election he has my vote. Bush left him a mess when Obama entered office. Under Obama the economy is growing. As far as the oil spill in the Gulf he is doing all he can. The U. S. Government does not have the ability or the technology to stop the spill. Obama has made BP responsible for the mess and held accountable not only to fix the problem and repay the Gulf States for lost of income. The Armed Forces of this country is thanking him on the New Veterans Administration. The Veterans Administration will soon make it easy for our veterans in getting help on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Our veterans have found it to be a nightmare in receiving benefits.
Thanks President Obama
Vietnam Veteran

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by dblaess July 15, 2010 2:04 PM EDT: Perhaps that first female president will be sarah palin.


by bonji66 October 18, 2010 5:58 PM EDT: So will that make you Adam?

by VoteThemOut2010 July 15, 2010 12:10 PM EDT

Democrats blew it. They had the opportunity to lead this Country, but they chose to attempt a Marxist Socialist coup. They hoped that they could do irreversable damage to our freedoms before we realized the scope of what he has done. In some instances he has succeeded int this, but I think it is now clear that this is not what the American people want.
I like that CBS tried to put the spin on this that it's just "economic policy" that he is losing approval for. GET A CLUE; it is ALL of his Anti-American Marxist Socialist Agenda.

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by dblaess July 15, 2010 2:05 PM EDT: Correct.


by philagumbo July 15, 2010 12:10 PM EDT: so "playa', you're disparaging the intelligence of Arkansans? The only
propaganda that has been going on is the media's overwhelmingly favorable treatment of The Inexperienced One. Why are you surprised?
Obama has, after all, never held an administative position.He talks and shoots hoops, but why should he have even a clue about how to restructure the economy or anything else?; Reply to this comment

by thy-only_king July 15, 2010 12:09 PM EDT

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce slammed President Obama's economic policies Wednesday, saying administration officials "took their eyes off the ball" and "neglected" to focus on job creation.

A letter posted to the business group's site and a summit with 500 business leaders were the latest moves in an ongoing battle between big business and the Obama administration.

The two are at odds over the best way to keep the recovery from slipping into a double-dip recession. The Chamber believes tax cuts are key to job creation. The Obama administration, however, has focused on stimulus and spending to create jobs.

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by bonji66 October 18, 2010 12:46 PM EDT: You guys are such haters, but I whatever happens, don't commit anymore hate CRIMES.


by thy-only_king July 15, 2010 6:07 AM EDT: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce slammed President Obama's economic policies Wednesday, saying administration officials "took their eyes off the ball" and "neglected" to focus on job creation.

A letter posted to the business group's site and a summit with 500 business leaders were the latest moves in an ongoing battle between big business and the Obama administration.

The two are at odds over the best way to keep the recovery from slipping into a double-dip recession. The Chamber believes tax cuts are key to job creation. The Obama administration, however, has focused on stimulus and spending to create jobs.; Reply to this comment

by seyulater July 14, 2010 8:51 PM EDT

Perhaps Mr Obama is brilliant. Break this nation financially so people are grasping at anything. Then, regulate, control. Look at all this talk of racism. People are angry, suspicious of each other, broken, fearful. Then "change" as America's never experienced will occur. I voted for Obama. I am glad to see the approval rating sliding downward. The elections of Nov are of dire importance now.

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by dblaess July 15, 2010 2:08 PM EDT: It is too bad you did not see this in 2008 when certain people were talking about this resolute if you voted for Mr. Obama.


by bonji66 October 18, 2010 12:52 PM EDT: Close your eyes and mouth, maybe if you can't see nothing, you will shut up all the rederic--chichi chuchum cho shime shay....just hush up.

by Handofdoom1 July 14, 2010 8:35 PM EDT

This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country.

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by bonji66 October 18, 2010 6:00 PM EDT: especially if it is not able to provide the care of your acute illness!


by Handofdoom1 July 14, 2010 8:31 PM EDT: Mr. Obama's approval rating on the economy has tumbled five percentage points from last month, according to a new CBS News poll.

The only thing I have to say , " WHEN WAS OBAMA RATING WAS APPROVAL ! "; Reply to this comment