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CBSNews /

CBS/ November 17, 2009, 2:01 PM

Obama's Approval Rating Slips to 53%

Updated 10 a.m. ET

President Barack Obama is being greeted warmly in China, but back in the U.S. his overall approval rating has slipped to 53 percent, according to a new CBS News poll.

Approval for Mr. Obama's handling of the situation in Afghanistan has dropped as well as more Americans now disapprove than approve.

However, a majority of Americans still approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling his job as president, but this percentage is down three points. Fifty-three percent of Americans approve of how he's handling his job, down from 56 percent last month.

The president's approval rating has dropped seven points among independents. Forty-five percent of independents now approve of how the president is handling his job. Last month, a majority of 52 percent approved.

Assessments of how Mr. Obama is handling the war in Afghanistan have become more negative since early October. Thirty-eight percent now approve of how President Obama is handling the war - but even more, 43 percent, disapprove. Disapproval has risen nine points, from 34 percent last month.

Again, most of the change has occurred among independents. Last month, 44 percent of independents approved and 36 percent disapproved of the job Mr. Obama was doing on Afghanistan. Now, more independents disapprove than approve: 49 percent disapprove, and just 30 percent approve.

Answers to this question also predictably fall along partisan lines. Just 23 percent of Republicans approve of the job Mr. Obama was doing on Afghanistan, compared to 57 percent of Democrats. Sixty percent of Republicans disapprove, compared to 24 percent of Democrats.

As for how Americans feel about the way Mr. Obama is handling foreign policy overall, the poll finds that 50 percent approve - not much different from last month. But disapproval of his handling of foreign policy has risen as well - from 28 percent last month to 36 percent now.

(CBS)


See the Complete Poll
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CBS News Poll Database


This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,167 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone November 13-16, 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.

Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
772 Comments Add a Comment
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Al Pippin says:
Givening Barack Obama a 53% approval rating is so incredibly ridiculous that it clearly (to most) reflects the degree of liberal as well as unethical bias that exists within CBS and many other "mainstream" media outlets. It is of little surprise why the much of the public no longer considers a significant number of news oriented networks and newspaper pulications as trustworthy, lacking credible fair and balanced reporting of news events, particularly those of a political nature. that is, why so many news based media outlets continue to lose reader and viewership: rapidly heading towards irreversible nonexistence. As far as I am concerned - the sooner, the better. Only then will a newly created generation of news based organizations, devoid of any and all political bias and of a most obvious left wing / liberal agenda be created.
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ky7474 says:
The President never has and never will be accepted by republicans so why he's turned his back on his base, I have no clue. Very disappointing!
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silverxm says:
Don't understand why CBS polls are always "outliers" with absurdly low levels of disapproval - skewed polling (the number of Democrats is corrected UPWARDS for some reason, and African-Americans are disproportionately included).

The bottom line is that Obama's approval among Caucasians is 39% and disapproval in the low 50s.
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Marcia_Baracaldo says:
Laughing at this POLL,,,,, 53% WHEN CBS IS A obama SUPPORTER????????

WHY NOT GIVING HIM 100% SINCE THIS IS ALL BIASED???
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TakeNoBull says:
ahahahhaah this is why CBS has lost all credibility. Obama is no where near as high as 53% due to the internet WE americans have all the polls
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cosmie says:
Obama is one big joke! Watch and see his ratings go to the 30's in the next few months.
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j_mcdonald-2009 says:
What is this, the thirtieth time this fall he has slipped to 53% ??

How does he manage to keep "slipping" to 53% without ever climbing up from it?

Or maybe we just never see those headlines?

Random fluctuations are not news.
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stn_sage says:
This is an OLD news story! It's time to 'move on'!

If you do a new poll, and it's random, I believe you'll find his positive numbers have slipped well below 53%!
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Native_American_in_Cali says:
If americans only knew that an unintended consequence of this war has been give access to raw materials (I.e. Iron Ore, Copper, etc) to China these poll numbers would be even lower...

"Afghanistan has large energy and mineral resources, particularly in copper, but they should at the same time not be exaggerated. China is likely to emerge as a large investor in the country, for better or worse, and Beijing?s interest in Afghanistan is likely to increase."

Source URL:
http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/4858
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hhchau says:
Whether president Obama does a great job to lead this nation out off crisis or not we should wait for the result. It is too early to judge right now. Remember, this president is unlike other president. He and his team work so hard to get us out off problem that the Bush government left for this country. So please. Just be patient. Listen and watch what the president doing to lead us out off trouble.
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