As President Barack Obama was preparing to meet at the White House on Tuesday afternoon with a group of business, religious and law enforcement leaders to talk about immigration reform, the Gallup poll released its latest weekly presidential job approval numbers indicating that Obama’s approval among Hispanic Americans had dropped to an all-time low. In the week of April 11-17, Gallup reported, only 47 percent of Hispanics said they approved of the job Obama was doing as president.
This was only the third week during Obama’s presidency that his job approval among his Hispanics has been lower than 50 percent. The previous two occasions were Sept. 20-26, 2010, when Obama’s approval dropped to 49 percent among Hispanics, and the week of July 26-Aug.1, 2010, when it dropped to 48 percent.
Obama’s approval among Hispanics peaked at 85 percent--a level it attained in the week of April 20-26, 2009 and again in the week of May 11-17, 2009.
Gallup typically asks at least 500 people per day--or more than 3,500 per week--whether they approve or disapprove of the job the president is doing. Last week, it surveyed 3,614 people.
Obama’s 47-percent job approval among Hispanics during the week was slightly higher than his overall job approval, which was 43 percent.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis of the 2008 presidential election exit polls, then-Sen. Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain 67 percent to 31 percent among Hispanic voters.
