Obama and Independents: What Happened?

President Obama's overall job approval rating was mixed in last month's CBS News Poll -- 44 percent approved, and 44 percent disapproved. And while other presidents have received similar ratings at this point in their presidencies, this president's approval rating has fallen 24 points since the high of 68 percent, reached in April 2009.

The president retains the support of nearly 4 in 5 Democrats, and about the same percentage of Republicans disapproves. Those figures have varied little since Barack Obama assumed office.

But his support among independents - those Americans who don't identify with either the Republican or Democratic party - has dropped significantly since last year.

In the CBS News Poll conducted in July, the president's job approval rating among this group was in net negative territory. Just 38 percent approved of the job he was doing as president, while more, 46 percent, disapproved.

CBS News Poll Database: Check Out Polls Dating Back to 1976

And that July poll didn't mark the first time that CBS News Polls found more independents disapproving than approving of how Mr. Obama was handling his job. In March, 46 percent disapproved and 33 percent approved, and in January, as Mr. Obama completed his first year in office, 47 percent disapproved, with just 40 percent approval.

This is quite a drop since the high of April 2009, when 65 percent of independents approved of how the President was doing his job.

This drop in approval might be due in part to some dissatisfaction with how the president is handling domestic issues.

Like Americans overall, independents are concerned about the economy, and just 35 percent rate the president positively for his handling of it. But unlike Republicans and Democrats, who take opposing views on government spending for job creation, independents are divided as to whether the government should spend money to create jobs, or focus instead on reducing the budget deficit.

 Federal Government Spending Priority Should Be:

	All	Dems	Reps	Inds
Spending to create jobs	46%	63%	25%	46%
Put focus on deficit reduction	47%	27%	72%	46%

Independents have also been critical of how Mr. Obama has handled the federal deficit. In a CBS News/New York Times Poll conducted in April 2010, just 23 percent said they approved of how he was handling that issue, and 57 percent disapproved. Among Americans overall, 29 percent approved.

And while the president's approval rating on handling health care was somewhat higher among independents in a May CBS News Poll (42 percent), on this issue as well even more disapproved (52 percent).

 INDEPENDENTS: Obama's Approval Ratings on Issues

	Approve	Disapprove
Economy (7/2010)	35%	56%
Budget deficit (4/2010)	23%	57%
Health care (5/2010)	42%	52%
Foreign policy (7/2010)	39%	48%
Afghanistan (7/2010)	42%	42%

But it may not be only his handling of the issues that is causing independents to feel unhappy with Mr. Obama. The poll data also suggests fewer independents see the president as representing their priorities or interests.

Since 2009 there has been a drop in the percentage of independents who think the president shares their priorities for the country, from a high of 57 percent in July 2009 to 44 percent a year later. More, 50 percent, now think he does not.

 INDEPENDENTS: Does Obama Share Your Priorities?

	7/2010	5/2010	10/2009	7/2009	2/2009
Yes	44%	40%	54%	57%	54%
No	50%	48%	42%	33%	36%

And just 31 percent think he cares a lot about their needs and problems, down from 49 percent in April 2009.

How this dissatisfaction will translate at the polls in November - if at all - remains to be seen. But the president was elected with support from independent voters: according to the 2008 CBS News exit poll, Mr. Obama received 52 percent of the ballots cast by independents, compared to just 44 percent who voted for John McCain. He may need their support again in 2012.

---

Sarah Dutton is the CBS News director of surveys. Poll Positions is weekly Hotsheet feature on polling trends from the CBS News Survey and Polling Unit. You can read more of her posts here.

[jeffinpa1234]

It's Simple - He lied!

[RobAla]

The President and the Democrat controlled Congress have done plenty. However, it is not been what the majority of Americans wanted or even what the left wing of the country was told.

The President's popularity has decreased due to the following:
Most Americans don't care for lies, corruption, and extremism in a President:
1) He lied 8 times in promises to televise the health care discussions openly on CSPAN.
2) He made deals giving one premium health care plan to union members (supporters) and another to the rest of the country.
3) He stood by and allowed the House and Senate to buy health care votes using taxpayer money.
4) He allowed the health care bills to be fashioned behind closed doors and be filled with political favors.
5) He and they took over the nations health care by the federal government - most Americans did not want this extreme action - and still do not..
6) He irresponsibly overspent 100s of billions of dollars the US didn't have on bailouts (President Bush started it and President Obama accelerated it) and bogus stimulus packages.
7) He has behaved in the most partisan manner of any recent President, after promising bipartisanship.
8) Instead of securing the border and enforcing federal immigration laws, the President has made war on Arizona Americans as they attempt to protect themselves from an invasion of illegal immigrants.
9) The President's man, AG Holder, dropped his case against the Black Panthers who blatantly intimidated voters at the polls.
10) This President has focused on this extremist agenda, instead of the millions without jobs. You can not grow the federal government on the backs of business and taxpayers during a recession, and expect job creation.
11) President Obama imposed a moratorium on drilling in the gulf, throwing thousands more out of work. One foreign oil company screwed up, and the President decided to punish other oil companies that have drilled responsibly for decades.
12) President Obama wants the President Bush tax cuts to expire, which will result in redirecting money away from the economy and push it into Washington.
13 The President and this Congress have maintained a 9.5% unemployment rate for over a year, and the President now states that he expects a 9% unemployment rate into 2012. This is absolutely unacceptable.

Just to name a few.
This is given rise to anti-democrat and anti-Obama opinion.

[JLD930]

Hey Rob, Please do not confuse liberals (I mean Progressives)with facts. They are too busy picking up their welfare checks to have time to research facts. We just need to keep working hard so they can live in the style that they are accustomed too.

[cassandrayp]

I appreciate the job the President is doing. He could use some help from the do nothing Republicans. The fillabuster is destroying the possibility of a good working Congress. People want things to happen fast. But reality is that big problems take time to dolve to get it right. Our President is off to a good start.

[JLD930]

You mean like the help Bush got from the Democratic house he had during his 8 years and the Democratic Senate he had for the last 4. I am sure that they had nothing to do with the problems duting his administration you r-e-t-a-r-d

[formerdem-2009]

CBS and the Mainstream media can no longer cover and hide the failure's of this pathetic excuse for a President. They will continue to try though. What happened is America is awakening again and hopefully will start to hold the suits and skirts in Washington to a higher standard than what has become the norm there. It seems that inside the beltway the term "accountability" has been given a new definition. It seems that for a politician, "accepting responsibilty for one's actions" no longer apllies for them it means "who can I blame to Cover my AZZ"

[cassandrayp]

The pathetic President who got us in this hole was Bush. It will take a lot to get us out of Bush's mess.

[cleric60]

I think that th vast majority of independents are not in favor of being socialistic liberals...some of them maybe Neo-Socialists in their thinking about national issues--but not radical socialists, like Prez. Obama and gang.

[honestycounts]

Disapproval of President Obama derives from those of us who cannot support nor believe in one who has or will not provide a valid birth certificate, scholarships applied for either as a U.S. or foreign student, college records or dissertations, proof of a passport during his travels abroad before his political life, religious beliefs, and affiliations which gained him such political strength in such a short time. We are an intelligent population. Are we so duped by orators? There were other orators in history that brought about the fall of nations. Have we been so duped. It is incredible for me to believe that so much bailout money is available. Every dime spent on bailing out this country is being manufactured from nowhere. We are sinking fast and we are blindly allowing this to happen. Elections are coming. There was a time when we saved (even aluminum foil, soap, string). We pulled in our belts and shared with our neighbors when they were without. We were a country under God, trusting in God, fearing in God. We are idolizing oil, material things, money. OK. Where do we go from here. It is up to each individual to take responsibility. Obama is not the failure. WE ARE.

[cassandrayp]

The bailouts were started by President Bush. He also started the auto bailouts. This birth certificate stuff is a cover for something that is wrong with birthers not with President Obama. He seems to be trying to improve the economy. Do not forget that republican and democratic economist suggested the stimulus package. It will take time for the economy to turn around. It started going badly slowly under Bush.

[riki_m1]

Independents realized that the hope was nothing but the words from the speech writer and merely spoken by inexperienced far left guy from Chicogo mud politics

[MikeOnTheRightAZ]

The polish has worn off and all we're left with is the turd that Obama always was.

Swing voters will swing the other way in two and a half months and again in two more years.

Worst president ever...

[lancesackless]

As an Independant, I gave him the benefit of the doubt as I felt in comparison to Hillary he was the lesser of two evils...I trusted him for the Stimulus package(I even bought a GM car) and I listened to his reasoning for Obambcare.

But by the time the DoJ was suing Arizona, a state they're sworn to PROTECT, that was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back

One
Term
President

[C_Goforth]

what happened is that Obama is terrible.
http://rubylee1776.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/obama_spreads_rumor_bush_still_president/