[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
United States News Title: President Obama Heads into Midterms at Lowest Approval Rating of Presidency, Two-thirds of Americans believe country going off on the wrong track NEW YORK , N.Y. - October 25, 2010 - President Obama is spending the next week crisscrossing the country in support of Democratic candidates before this year's midterm elections. While the president may do a great job of energizing the base, he may not be able to convert any Independents who have yet to decide for whom they will vote. Currently, two-thirds of Americans (67%) have a negative opinion of the job President Obama is doing while just over one-third (37%) have a positive opinion. This continues the president's downward trend and he is now at the lowest job approval rating of his presidency. These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 3,084 adults surveyed online between October 11 and 18, 2010 by Harris Interactive. It's perhaps not surprising that nine in ten Republicans (90%) and Conservatives (89%) give the job the president is doing negative ratings. What may be surprising is that one-third of Democrats (34%) and Liberals (33%) also give him negative ratings, as do seven in ten Independents (70%) and six in ten Moderates (60%). Americans who give the president the highest positive ratings are those with a post-graduate education (48%), a college education (47%), and those living in the West (42%). On the other end of the spectrum, almost three-quarters of those with a high school education or less (72%) and two thirds of Midwesterners (66%) and Southerners (66%) give the President negative marks on his overall job. While the president is at a low point, there is a political body with ratings much lower than his. Just one in ten Americans (11%) give Congress positive ratings on the job they are doing while nine in ten (89%) give them negative marks. While Congress may be under Democratic control, even four in five Democrats (81%) give them negative ratings. Part of this negativity may have to do with the way Americans believe the country as a whole is going. Just one-third of U.S. adults (34%) say the country is going in the right direction while two-thirds (66%) say it is going off on the wrong track. While not close to the low it was before the 2008 election (11% said things were going in the right direction), this is one of the lower points of this year. How this unhappiness with Congress, President Obama and the way things in the country are going translates into voting behavior on November 2 nd is still slightly unknown. Momentum seems to be in the Republicans' favor for Congress (at least for the House of Representatives) but what still remains to be seen is if it is just an anti-Democrat year or an anti-incumbent year. TABLE 1 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - TREND "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults 2009 Mar April May June Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec % % % % % % % % % POSITIVE 55 58 59 54 51 49 45 43 41 Excellent 17 18 17 14 11 11 10 9 7 Pretty good 38 40 42 39 39 38 35 33 33 NEGATIVE 45 42 41 46 49 51 55 57 59 Only fair 27 26 25 25 25 25 27 29 30 Poor 18 15 16 21 24 26 28 29 30 2010 Jan Mar April May June Aug Sept Oct % % % % % % % % POSITIVE 40 41 41 42 39 40 38 37 Excellent 9 9 9 10 6 9 9 8 Pretty good 31 32 31 32 33 31 29 29 NEGATIVE 60 59 59 58 61 60 62 63 Only fair 30 28 26 28 29 26 28 30 Poor 30 31 33 30 32 34 34 33 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 2 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - BY PARTY & IDEOLOGY "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults Total Political party Political Philosophy Rep. Dem. Ind. Cons. Mod. Lib. % % % % % % % POSITIVE 37 10 66 30 11 40 67 Excellent 8 5 14 5 2 8 15 Pretty good 29 5 52 25 9 32 52 NEGATIVE 63 90 34 70 89 60 33 Only fair 30 24 27 34 23 36 25 Poor 33 66 7 36 65 24 8 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; * indicates less than .5% TABLE 3 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - BY REGION, EDUCATION & GENDER "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults Total Region Education Gender East Midwest South West H.S. or less Some college College grad Post grad Men Women % % % % % % % % % % % POSITIVE 37 39 34 34 42 28 40 47 48 35 39 Excellent 8 5 6 8 9 6 8 12 8 10 5 Pretty good 29 34 28 25 32 22 32 35 40 25 34 NEGATIVE 63 61 66 66 58 72 60 53 52 65 61 Only fair 30 30 36 28 28 36 28 25 22 28 32 Poor 33 31 30 39 30 36 32 28 30 37 29 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 4 CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING "How would you rate the overall job Congress is doing?" Base: All adults Total Political Party Rep. Dem. Ind. % % % % POSITIVE 11 7 19 6 Excellent 2 3 2 * Pretty good 10 4 17 6 NEGATIVE 89 93 81 94 Only fair 38 23 51 35 Poor 50 70 30 59 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 5 CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING - TREND "How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing?" Base: All adults TREND Positive* Negative** % % 2010 October 11 89 September 13 87 August 15 85 June 14 86 May 15 85 April 16 84 March 10 90 Jan. 16 84 2009 Dec. 17 83 Oct. 16 84 Sept. 19 81 Aug. 22 78 June 25 75 March 29 71 2008 October 10 86 August 18 77 June 13 83 February 20 76 2007 December 17 79 October 20 77 April 27 69 February 33 62 2006 September 24 73 May 18 80 February 25 71 January 25 72 *Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. Note: Prior to March, 2009, this question was asked by telephone. TABLE 6 RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK "Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?" Base: All adults TREND Right Direction Wrong Track % % 2010 October 34 66 September 36 64 August 35 65 June 34 66 April 39 61 March 33 67 2009 December 37 63 August 46 54 March 32 68 January 19 72 2008 October 11 83 February 23 69 2007 December 18 74 February 29 62 2006 May 24 69 February 32 59 2005 November 27 68 January 46 48 2004 September 38 57 June 35 59 2003 December 35 57 June 44 51 2002 December 36 57 June 46 48 2001 December 65 32 June 43 52 2000 October 50 41 June 40 51 1999 June 37 55 March 47 45 1998 December 43 51 June 48 44 1997 December 39 56 April 36 55 1996 December 38 50 June 29 64 1995 December 26 62 June 24 65 1994 December 29 63 June 28 65 1993 June 21 70 March 39 50 1992 June 12 81 January 20 75 1991 December 17 75 January 58 32 Note: Prior to March, 2009 this question was asked via telephone Methodology This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between October 11 to 18, 2010 among 3,084 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online. All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive. J38848 Q1205, 1210, 1215 The Harris Poll 33; #127, October 25, 2010 By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll, Public Relations and Youth Research, Harris Interactive About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#3. To: WhiteSands (#0)
(Edited)
The more he talks, the more people dislike him. "I did this". "I did that". I I I I I I I I I... After the election, Obama would be smart to shut his mouth for a couple of months and give us all a break from his gargantuan self-centered ego.
#4. To: jwpegler (#3)
Our resident "I man" is silent right now.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||