Poll: Fiscal fights take toll on Obama approval
President Obama's approval rating has taken a hit from its post-reelection high, dropping back to 50 percent as confidence in his economic stewardship has wavered, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
In December, shortly after he was reelected to a second term, Mr. Obama towered over congressional Republicans on the question of whom the public better trusted to deal with the economy. By 18 points - 54 to 36 percent - respondents selected the president over the congressional GOP.
Now, Mr. Obama's advantage on that question has dwindled to only four points - 44 to 40 percent - after a series of economic deadlines came and went, including fights over the "fiscal cliff" at the start of 2013 and the automatic spending cuts in the sequester at the beginning of March. The number of Americans expressing confidence in "neither" has swelled to double digits.
Mr. Obama's job approval has taken a hit as a result - 50 percent of respondents approve of how he is handling his job, down from 54 percent in December. Still, he handily bests congressional Republicans, whose job approval stands at a meager 24 percent.
And while a slim majority of Americans - 53 percent - disapprove of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, almost three quarters of respondents said the cuts have had "no negative impact" on them personally, though 48 percent said they expect the cuts to eventually hurt their personal finances.
Sixty-four percent said the cuts will hurt the economy as a whole, and by a margin of 47 to 33 percent, respondents blamed congressional Republicans over the White House for the cuts' imposition.
The Washington Post/ABC News poll surveyed 1,001 adults between March 7 and 10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.