President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has taken a tumble and has now fallen to 49% in today’s Gallup poll. This marks the first time his approval has dropped below 50% and more importantly, it marks a significant decline from the 69% approval rating Gallup recorded when Obama entered office.
There is little doubt that the ongoing back and forth, contentious debate over the national healthcare reform, which at times seem to be tearing at this nation’s fabric, has severely damaged his public support. Moreover, the protracted economic situation is also a contributing factor. His trip to Asia and replete with praises for China and the bowing incident in Japan may have also ticked off a few notches from his approval rating.
The country is very concerned at this moment on the President’s reliance on government spending (translated to taxpayer debt) to solve what ails the nation. The federal budget deficit continues to grow and there appears to be no abatement. Whenever a problem pops up, it seems that the administration’s first response is, let’s spend our way out of it.
As a matter of comparison, since World War II, President Obama now has the dubious distinction of being the fourth fastest to drop below the majority approval level. This comes at an eye-opening speed, merely ten months following his inauguration.
The Gallup poll comes on the heels of the Quinnipiac poll released earlier this week. That poll indicated that Obama’s approval rating had slipped to 48%. Other talking heads, Fox News in particular, have argued that the Quinnipiac numbers is actually a bit too high, and they propose that the actual numbers are much lower, putting it at around 46%.
The Quinnipiac poll surveyed only registered voters, whereas the Gallup figure is based on a wider sample of Americans, making it the more representative figure. Regardless, in both situations, President Obama’s job performance is now officially disliked by more Americans than those who approve of it.
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