Political Hotsheet
By

Corbett B. Daly /

CBS News/ August 18, 2011, 8:02 AM

Obama approval rating on economy plunges to new low

President Obama

President Obama's approval rating on the the most important issue for his re-election--the economy--has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, according to a poll released Wednesday by Gallup.

Just over one in four of those asked say they approve of his performance. The 26 percent approval rating is down from 37 percent in May and almost 10 percentage points below his prior low of 35 percent in November 2010.

His disapproval rating on the economy jumped 11 points from May to 71 percent, also a record for his time in office.

The unemployment rate fell slightly to a still elevated 9.1 percent in July, though the economy grew just 1.3 percent in the three months through June after growing at a 0.4 percent pace in the first three months of this year.

The Federal Reserve last week surprised financial markets when it took the unprecedented step of saying it intended to keep interest rates ultra-low for at least two years as it anticipates weak economic conditions and a "subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run."

Mr. Obama' overall approval rating fell to 41 percent in August from 52 percent in May. Each of the major subcategories has fallen.

The president scored his highest approval rating for his handling of terrorism, at 53 percent approval. That is still 10 percentage points lower than the 63 percent rating he scored in May, days after the killing of Osama bin Laden in early May.

His lowest approval rating came for his handling of the federal budget deficit. Just 24 percent of Americans said they approved of the way he has dealt with the deficit, down eight percentage points from his May rating.

The White House and congressional Republicans were involved in a high-profile debate over raising the legal U.S. borrowing limit for much of the time between surveys.

The results are based on telephone interviews of 1,008 adults between August 11-14 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, Gallup said.

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
50 Comments Add a Comment
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starman5409 says:
You don't get it!! How is he supposed to get anything done when Congress blocks him at every step. It's Congress that needs replaced, not the President.

Congress does not live in the real world. They should all be paid minimum wage and living in public housing for their entire term; no fancy limo's and restaurants, no 5 week vacations, just work, like the rest of the country. You live in the trenches with the remaining 100+ million Americans on low and fixed incomes. Only then will you be able to understand what this country needs. These people forget that they work for us, not the other way around.

And taxes should be fair and equal for all, if you earn 10 billion, you pay 1 billion, if you earn 100,000 you pay 10,000. The party system should be abolished, as it serves no useful purpose other than promoting bigotry and infighting.
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meandeanKK says:
President Obama is Historic... The Worse President EVER...
It is Pelosi/Reid/Obama the axis of evil...
This poor law student obama is in way over his head...
we need someone with some experience'
Executive Experience'

Yes, Gov. Rick Perry 2012
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starman5409 replies:
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More like KKK. Who needs another low rent redneck republican in the white house. You appear to have no idea what's going on in this world.
Evil is-not willing to stop being stupid, and actually getting educated, so that when you talk, you don't make a fool of yourself.
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carolo43 says:
People who think you can back out of a deep depression in a couple of years must be delusional. It took years to get us to this point and it will be years to get back out of it. Just how many private sector jobs do you think are available to make up for the THOUSANDS of factorys that closed down or moved out?

A Republican in Office would not have helped a bit. Jobs are scarse and just as scarse for them as they are Democrats. Instead of blaming THIS Democrat for everything, how about blaming THAT Republican who was in office when we lost all those jobs?
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dantom39 says:
No suprise here with the head of GE moving jobs to China Obamas job czar how does that help? He is in over his head.
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TimeStudy says:
What I can't imagine is "who are those people who approve of his handling of the economy?" Seriously, those people need to be institutionalized for their own safety.
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jgg000101 says:
hey, corbett, I hate to break it to you but it ain't just the "economy". Obama's approval rating on EVERYTHING is plunging. He has NO foreign policy, NO domestic policy, and NO record. And the majority of people don't want his signature slimeball healthcare accomplishment. A nice smile only gets you so far.
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IMeanWhat1 says:
While the Republican Congress are off lollygagging for a whole month after destroying our economy, Barack is left holding the "buck stops here" bag. And it does not go with his shoes http://******/oqoK6D
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TimeStudy replies:
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WOW! What fantasy world do you live in?

Your Messiah is on vacation. Of course that might be a good thing. Everything he touches turns to poop and it's really better if he just goes away and plays golf.
towler10 replies:
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You are hopelessy deluded. This POS POTUS is on his way out and most certainly deserves it.
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sandy e.2710 says:
Under normal circumstances, presidents get the credit for the economy doing well, and when it doesn't, they get the blame.It used to be that that was a pretty good measuring stick of a president's abilities and effectiveness .However, in this case, I don't think so.There are 2 major factors playing a role in the state of the economy that can't be dismissed: the global markets, and more directly, Republicans in congress.We don't live under a system that allows presidents to make decisions by fiat, or unilaterally.In most cases, things get done by joint ventures-the president and congress working together to get bills passed.It has never been easy to do this because the president and one or both houses of congress usually come from different parties; but in this case, it has been practically impossible for anything to get done, because Republicans have deliberately employed a strategy of not working with President Obama due to ideology, and politics to make him,at the very least, look ineffective.When the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell , stated forthrightly , only a few months into the president's term that his main goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president, it was the moment of truth;and an ugly one, at that.Every proposal that the president made was obstructed.Republicans even abandoned their own proposals if the president was willing to sign on to them.Many people say that the president doesn't lead on anything; but right or wrong, it seems that he adopted the"you go first this time" method just to try to get something done.The president hasn't even made his September jobs bill proposal, and we're already hearing "Nos" from Republicans.All of this begs the question"In actuality, who should get the bulk of the blame for the weak economy"? When he took office, we were hemorrhaging jobs, losing three quarters of a million at a time, but with the help of a Democratic congress, he was able to take some measures that helped pull the jobs growth on the positive side of the ledger.Although the Stimulus and the Bailouts weren't popular, most economists agree that the Stimulus, and Bailouts , pulled us out of the hole.Many economists believe that one of the main problems that is effecting us even now is that the Stimulus wasn't large enough, but this was probably due to the Obama administrations' belief that it was about as large a package that they could get through the congress at the time.It should also be remembered that 40% of the Stimulus went for tax cuts that were insisted upon by Republicans, and not projects, or funds that saved jobs.Nobody is happy with where we are right now, and I think that the president could have done some things differently,; but having said that I think that he has been better, even on the economy than many people are giving him credit for.We wouldn't even have a U.S. auto industry if he hadn't bailed them out.We have to ask "Where do we go from here, and are Republicans going to help this president pull us out of this slump, as with previous congresses in difficult times, or are they going to continue the "Take Obama Down" game that is hurting America?
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KayKay72 replies:
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I'd be willing to bet you jumped on the "blame Bush for everything" train right along with the rest of the libtards, though, right?
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RobAla says:
As long as President Bush can be blamed, liberals were OK with blaming one man. Now that a progressive President has screwed the country up, I guess we should now no longer blame one man? Sorry. What is fair is fair.

At least progressives should be able to be honest. I am not buying the double standard. I honestly don't think the President can be the only one to blame for the mess, but I think liberals should be consistent in their criteria.

Let's see, I agree that President Bush foolishly doubled his 2007 deficit spending in 2008, that he refused to deal with illegal immigration until the last year of his Presidency, and that he foolishly began the bailouts. OK - Progressives are OK with that?

I even more blame President Obama for foolishly TRIPLING President Bush's 2007 deficit spending in 2009, 2010, and projected for 2011. I blame stupid Nancy Pelosi (we should pass the bill so that we know what is in it), Harry Reid, and President Obama for cramming an idiotic health care law down the throats of a majority of Americans who do not want it - a a stupid law that increases expenses and regulations on businesses at a time of massively high unemployment - which causes health care premiums to be more costly for struggling Americans and places $billions of unfunded mandates on struggling states. President Obama wasted $100s of billions on bogus stimulus packages (shovel ready jobs that he now admits were not shovel ready jobs). President Obama wasted almost $1 trillion in unfair bailouts to recipients of HIS choosing, while allowing businesses of his choosing to go under. None of this corrected the terrible economic mess we have.

Sure, I am willing to spread the blame around. However, the election of President Obama to the Presidency has proved to be a complete disaster. We finally removed that goofball Pelosi from being the Speaker of the House, and now it is time to remove that slime ball Harry Reid from leading the Senate.

It is time to send progressive dreamers home from Washington, and replace them with practical people who have actual successful track records in job creation and restoration of stable economics. I think I am being fair.
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radsenior says:
People need to understand his economy is subject to the Congressional actions and not the presidents'! It's the Congress that holds and manipulates the economic monies! It's the 111th Congress' fixing of the economy that this current Congress is trying their best to unravel. The 111th passed and started the recovery! The 112th has done everything their TEA members wanted to slow or stop the economic fixes! The president is the Administrative branch and the Congress is the Legislative branch of our government! People need to raise their heads out of the FOX-hole and see reality rather than feed on the lies of that outlet!
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RobAla replies:
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As long as President Bush can be blamed, liberals were OK with blaming one man. Now that a progressive President has screwed the country up, I guess we should now no longer blame one man? Sorry. What is fair is fair.
rdw1mt replies:
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exactly when was the last time democrats Past a budget?
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