Obama approval ratings still below 50 percent
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
President Obama's job approval rating remains just below 50 percent, virtually unchanged from three weeks ago, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Wednesday.
About 47 percent approve of the way he has handled his job as president, while 44 percent disapprove. That compares to 48 percent and 43 percent respectively three weeks ago.
On the economy specifically, just 39 percent think he is doing a good job, compared to 37 percent in early June. The only change since three weeks ago that is not within the three percentage point margin of error is a four percentage point decline in Mr. Obama's disapproval ratings on the economy. About 52 percent of respondents disapprove of his handling of the economy, compared with 56 percent disapproval three weeks ago.
Yet few blame Mr. Obama for the economic conditions in the United States. Just 8 percent say Mr. Obama is "most to blame" for the state of the economy, compared to 7 percent earlier. About 26 percent blame his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and 25 percent blame Wall Street. Those figures compare with 28 percent and 22 percent three weeks ago.
Eleven percent of respondents said Congress was mostly to blame, compared to 10 percent in early June.
More from the poll: GOP voters still not happy with choices
The economy grew at just a 1.8 percent annualized rate in the first three months of the year. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in June as employers added just 54,000 jobs, the slowest pace in eight months.
The Federal Reserve last week again lowered its estimate for economic growth this year and next. It also raised its forecast for unemployment, predicting the jobless rate at the end of next year would fall in a range between 7.8 percent and 8.2 percent, compared with a 7.6 percent to 7.9 percent range predicted just two months earlier.
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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 979 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone June 24-28, 2011. 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.