Poll Finds Obama in Summer of Discontent

(CBS)  Pessimism permeates a CBS News poll released Tuesday, finding President Obama's overall job approval rating down three points, tying his all-time low of 44 percent.

The survey also finds a gathering sense that the man in charge is not doing enough to alleviate Americans' worries, CBS News Correspondent Dean Reynolds reports.

In Batavia, Ill., social worker Cherie Jones Das has a short wish list for the president.

"I'd like to see Obama do more, yeah. I really would," said Das. "I'd like to see him do more to promote jobs."

Indeed, in the poll, the economy is seen as the biggest problem by far facing the country, specifically the lack of jobs.

"A job, period," said Californian Walter Powell. "A job, you know, most people, they can't get jobs."

More from the Poll

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Poll: Support For Health Care Reform Drops
Poll: Most Want Afghanistan Withdrawal Timeline
Poll: Support for Arizona Immigration Law Hits 57 Percent
Obama's Approval Rating on Economy Drops
Read the Complete Poll

Fifty-two percent say the president has spent too little time addressing the issue, and 63 percent say his economic programs have had no effect on them personally.

That's politically ominous for Mr. Obama and probably frustrating, given that a number of independent economic research organizations say at least 2 million jobs were created or saved by the stimulus package

Yet 75 percent of the country believes the effects of the recession will last two more years or longer.

"I think it's gonna inch slowly; it will get better but it's going to inch very slowly," said Das. "It may not happen in time to really save Obama."

Fifty-three percent of Americans say the president's approach to the nation's problems is not tough enough, and they're evenly divided - 48 percent to 48 percent - on whether he shares their priorities. One New Jersey Republican clearly believes he does not.

"I think if he spent as much time on the job crisis and on the American public as he did worrying about the banking industry maybe we would have been a little better off right now," said Lorraine, who refused to provide her last name.

The administration's opposition to the tough new Arizona immigration law goes against the national grain too with 57 percent believing the law has it about right in dealing with illegal immigration.

@katiecouric: Ariz. Immigration Law
Arizona Law Defined
Racial Profiling
Why Do So Many Break the Law?
Are Illegals Taking jobs away from Americans?

"The oddest truth, I am Hispanic, but I'm American," said Laura Arroyas. "I think they come here to take our jobs."

But some public remedies for the ailing economy were conflicting.

A majority - 53 percent to 37 percent - favors cutting taxes over government spending as the way to kick start the economy, yet 52 percent believe Congress should nonetheless spend more to extend jobless benefits.

Yet despite the glum mood, CBS News also found that Americans retain their long-term optimism about the future.

"Normally when there's something down, it always comes back up," said Powell. "That's what normally happens. It can't be night forever."

And consider this: back in 1988 when CBS News asked if America's best days were ahead of it, 61 percent said yes. Today, when asked the same question, 59 percent said yes, virtually the same.

[toddaiden]

The Republicans call the healthcare reform a welfare program. Who is getting free medical care now that they didn't get it before? Wefare implies someone is getting something for free while other have to pay.

[JayAdler1]

I would like to further my argument about applicants unable to meet the stiff requirements of the 21 century job market. My first big job after college was in 1973 working in the World Trade Center as a representative for Smith Corona. Computers were unknown to consumers,ditto for hand held calculators, no cell phones (10cents for a pay phone), nothing but a yellow pad and a pencil. No one gave us a test or looked in a database.There were no retirement anything. I think I had a MasterCard and a Blue Cross card. My point is that I do not blame Obama for every thing concerning unemployment. We are now in the Electronic Age, applicants are double searched everywhere, no one is flying on gossamer wings. My wife knows e-mail and texting, if you ask her to clear the temporary files or back up to a flash drive she freezes. She works in the school system as a food handler.We have to respect everybody for the work they do, somebody has to feed the kids and teachers. The problem is that by design workers are not that versatile and corporate employers are not only overly skill and background demanding and unwilling to train for six months. So while Obama did not bring the Kissingers in as advisors, he went to ideology and friendship as his mantra for retaining advisors, there are plenty of extenuating circumstance that exempt him from all the blame.

[JayAdler1]

I was actually born as Truman was President in 1951.Dwight David Eisenhower came in in 1952 having served our country in WWll as a General most notably at the Battle of Dunkirk. Ike was very poplar. I wore his button I Like Ike.The advisement theory I have commented about was evidences in the two terms Ike served.You see Ike was a military man but was not a CPA. So the Secretary of State, Sherman Adams ran the country.Eisenhower loved to play golf at Augusta. What's the difference who does it as long as it gets done.

[JayAdler1]

I really do not understand why George Bush is constantly discussed when he is retired and there has been so much time elapsed since his alleged mistakes.The remark about Dick Cheney caught my interest. All Presidents have advisors, they have to.Obama made some very bad choices on the Federal level, some individuals were terminated. Think about Cheney and Kissinger. Sure you may have some aggravation toward them but they are very brilliant and capable men no matter what you think of them personally.So if Obama had reached up real high past Michigan Avenue to retain brainiacs for advisors, we would not be in the economic and yes global mess we are in today. Then I would vote for Obama ( I would go out with him for pizza today, I just do not like his policies) and he could stand in the Rose garden and take credit for everything based silently on advisement. As long as it gets done.

[JayAdler1]

Did you know that many companies have open jobs but cannot get any applicants because they make more money sitting at home on unemployment.They are not going to create a job in todays economic crisis, maybe tomorrow will be different. We had a saying 40 years ago that companies will hire a "raw trainee". Not today, companies cannot afford to hire someone who has no production potential for one year. So it is not all Obama, there are problems with applicants who have to face stiff requirements in our faster paced world beset with liabilities. To get an office job on Park Avenue, you not only have to be looking good and groomed but you probably need a lot more education than befits the position. So on the applicant side their are reasons why this job crisis is as bad as it is. As far as Obama, he was never Presidential timber and this was widely discussed by all by all concerned during Election 2008. At 59 I voted for and could easily identify with John McCain's talking points. He was a War hero and I remember The Ho Chi Mingh Trail, Danang, The bombing of Haiphong Harbor and his place of incarceration. Go to every American 50 and younger. They had no idea of McCain's history.The American people are showing a great deal of buyer's remorse and the opinion polls substantiate it.

[partyofthefirstpart]

what a bunch of nonsense, a family of 4 trying to live on unemployment or even one? for one the unem is less then 99 weeks if the unem rate drops, it really is only for 26 weeks and it gets old fast. i didn't know there were so many jobs available on park ave thanks fore the tip. the buyer's remorse you speak of is nothing compared to the remorse of having voted for junior bush twice, what a disaster and for the guy who wants to know why we are still talking about retired george bush its because he just left office 18 months ago, not 2 years, not 3, not 4 but 18 months ago and he screwed this country up good and now the real voters who have voted all their lives not just to vote against someone who is black and trying to fix things, have to put it back together again because of all the greedy republican scumbags like artificial heroin users like rush or alcoholic cokeheads like glenn beck who gives investment advice like he knows anything about anything but what a rehab looks like.

[JayAdler1]

You can add Joe Biden and sometimes Obama possibly mistaking the GNP numbers for the unemployment rate spinning us into the lap of luxury when most Americans are in panic mode. I thought Obama should not have been so gloomy about that gentleman at the unemployment extension speech who Obama condemned to a long period of unemployment because no one answered his mailed resume. That man might of found something if he lifted himself off the couch. There are plenty of jobs in all metropolitan areas, but people do not want to lower their standards and pay. Being in a bad financial position for a family or single is a bottom line deal and no matter what the politicians tell them they know where they are at.Historically speaking if the Obama administration does not exit the American people from high employment and a troubled economy, elections 2010 and 2012 will go to the opposition just like it always does in these scenarios.Additionally, and this is not to distract, the economic failings are coupling quickly with bad karma in North Korea, Mexico, Iran and two of our best allies have been somewhat aggravated with the United States. A few voter objections in 2008 are becoming stark reality.

[crewmember1]

Yes JayAdler1 - it is hard to believe, that you would draw this conclusion - Bush only knew he would make a mess of things - he really didn't have any idea how to fix them. He relinquished his commander in chief duties to Cheney largely, and let the secret behind-the doors-negotiations go as his dad's old buddies saw fit for themselves. They don't care at all about Americans, Obama does. That is a huge difference. Besides, if you have ever even walked into a corrupted system, and tried to change it, you would have some taste of what it is like - amplified by 5,000 - for Obama to walk into Washington - also against race and other ridiculous un-American rumors about our President and do more - more than Bush did in his 8 years and we aren't half way through the first term yet - speaking of which, Obama has already been present on the job more days than Bush was in his two terms - so your irresponsible remarks do not have any basis in fact.

[mmagliaro]

Hard to believe, but yes, he is worse than Bush. Worse because when Bush was elected, you KNEW what he was going to do. He was a religious, conservative guy who promoted the oil industry, big business, and believed in letting business and Wall Street have a free reign. He believed his military cronies when they told him they could charge into Iraq and be out in 3 months, with a new Gov't in place and a massive supply of cheap oil.

Obama has treated business, and Wall Street the same as Bush, but he's HANDED them more of our tax money. He has trash-talked Bush's military policies, but he has done nothing to pull out of Iraq and has sent more to troops to Afghanistan. He's done nothing to reign in energy or real estate or banking companies, and simply rewarded their corrupt behavior with bail-outs.
He has not only turned a blind eye to illegal immigration, like Bush did, he is working AGAINST us by suing Arizona.

In short, every bad thing Bush did, Obama does under another name, while spending more of our money to do it. He is Bush on steroids.

[partyofthefirstpart]

you really need help to believe what you are writing that someone could fix 8 years of bush baloney in 18 months. he is pulling us out of iraq, he has refocused the war in afganistan, the car companies and even aig are paying back their loans and making money again, they went after goldman sachs for cheating investors and giving them the largest fine in history. and on and on, i really don't see the failures you talk about especially when he is fixing the failures of his predessors, you need to wake up and smell the coffee because the republican conservatives are not your friends and sarah palin is not rational or qualified to be vice president thats why mccain lost on top of conservatives not having the votes to win the last election they don't have the votes to win this year either because no one wants to go back to their phoeny nonsense that they put up to front their personal greed and need to glorify themselves like palin.

[govmess]

To blind and uninformed Americans:

Our budgets do not come from the White House, they come from Congress.
The party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. Count the years - that?s a total of five Budgets!


In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009, though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.



If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is: ?I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th."

WAKE UP, AMERICA!

[imf61a]

Let us put fault where it belongs. Many of present issues are not new but unfortunately have come to be effecting the whole country. The inaptness of our Congressional leaders to work for the good of the nation and our people and their greed and egos. We have allowed ourselves rto beleive our elected official do not need savvy and experience and working knowledge of our countries issues domestically and diplomatically. Obama is an intellect but lacks the experience @savvy and knowledge of issues confronting our country. He uses political manuvers to settle issues lacks depth and civil and real decisiveness and it is time to stop blaming BUsh for all our ills. No more apologizing to people who would cut our throat if they could and those people do not deserve anything in any form from our great country. Obama shows no true feelings for our country if he shows no strength in patriotism and nationalism. Cutting offshore drilling is not the way to avoid oil spill disasters because you hurt severely folks in the areas livelihood. The Attorney General of the United States should have made it apriority to act on the Oil Spill from the start for the fact there spill area is under federal jurisdiction to help deal with BP and anyone else involved with the OIl Spill. Holder lack of action goes directly back to the President and the same for Holders lack of decisive moves in regard to the Terrorists and their actions on our soil in recent times. Obama must go after issues with a fair and open mind looking at the whole picture and not pick and choose the most political adventages issue to pursue as he did with Healthcare Reform. Stop going after the whole big Business World realize who will be hurt by attacking big business as a whole. Yes,the very people he allegedly is trying to help will suffer even more hardships and so we need deal with broken parts of our domestic scene and deal with diplomatic issues for who they are in most cases liars and murders who have never proven to be trust worthy,just evil people.

[OIF_to_USC]

"The Long Hot Summer of 09" is followed by the "Summer of Discontent." I guess there had to be "change" and that was it so far. The real season of discontent will be the "Autumn of Regime Change" in 2010 and 2012. Good riddance. May those seasons come quickly and a new administration and congress pick up the pieces of what is left.

[alalinda]

The worst President ever! Can't wait for 2012 and a real change for the Better!

[billyboyC]

AMEN , Brother!!