Poll: Obama approval among business owners drops

(CBS News) As President Obama's opponents continue to put him on the defensive over remarks they say were critical of small business owners, a new poll, taken before these specific attacks began, shows the president's support among business owners is on the decline.

A Gallup poll of the president's job approval by occupation released Thursday shows that only 35 percent of people who characterize themselves as business owners approve of the president in the second quarter of 2012, down 6 points from the first quarter of this year. That's second from the bottom, with farmers, fishers and forestry workers as the least approving of the president at 34 percent.

Although Gallup's survey was conducted between April and June and does not consider the current debate over the president's latest comments, the poll does include the period when Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee and the president's attacks on Romney's business experience intensified.

The findings are also significant as Romney and Republicans in Congress paint the president's economic policies as harmful to small businesses.

Although business owners have an increasingly negative view of Mr. Obama, almost every other category of worker improved their view from last quarter. Professional workers and office workers were the most approving, with 52 and 51 percent approval respectively.

The president's approval ratings have slightly improved overall, with 47 percent of the more than 25,000 people surveyed approving of the president while 47 percent disapprove. Those are better numbers for Mr. Obama than the 45 percent approval, 48 percent approval he received in the poll last quarter.