Poll: Obama Approval Rating Dips Slightly

Despite continued attacks from Republicans in August over his health care plans, President Obama's overall approval rating has only dipped a couple percentage points. In the latest CBS News poll released Tuesday night, the president's overall approval rating is 56 percent, which is down two points from the last poll taken at the end of July.

That rating for Mr. Obama is the lowest in a CBS News poll since he took office in January, but only by one point. The president's approval rating in mid-July was at 57 percent, according to CBS News polling.

The president's approval rating hit a high in late April at 68 percent just as Mr. Obama was completing his first 100 days in office. The rating remained in the 60s until dropping in that mid-July poll.

However, even though there isn't a pronounced dip in his approval rating, there are some other possibly troubling signs in this new poll for the president. The president's disapproval rating jumped five points since the July poll to 35 percent, which is a new high mark.

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In addition, Mr. Obama's rating on particular issues has declined. On health care, which has taken much of his focus over the summer, only 40 percent approve of the president's job performance, and 47 percent disapprove. That's nearly the reverse of July, when 46 percent approved and 38 percent disapproved.

Mr. Obama's rating on other important issues is also below his overall approval rating. Fifty-three percent approve of the job he is doing on the economy, though that is up two points from July. However, he has just a 48 percent approval rating on Afghanistan, which is down eight points from when the question was last asked in April.

Yet, the president's rating is higher in other areas. Seventy-three percent say he has strong qualities of leadership, but that has dropped 12 points since February of this year. And 72 percent say he at least cares some about people like themselves, but the percentage of people who say he cares "a lot" dropped nine points from April to 45 percent now.

More CBS News Polls Released Today:

More Wary of Obama on Health Care
Public Split on Limiting Executive Pay
Two-Thirds Confused by Health Reform
Obama's Ratings on Afghanistan Drop
PDF: The Complete Poll – Health Care
PDF: The Complete Poll - Economy

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,097 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone August 27-31, 2009. 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.