Are unfavorable presidential approval polls even newsworthy anymore? Here's the latest data from Quinnipiac:
A new poll gives President Obama an overall approval rating of 44%, with 48% of respondents disapproving of his performance. In late May, the Quinnipiac University national poll gave Obama similar ratings -- 45% approval, 49% disapproval. "President Barack Obama is in a slump, under water for the last two surveys," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
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A cursory breakdown of the numbers:
(1) Obama's overall job approval sits at an enervated 44 percent, with disapproval at 48 percent. He's at 36/53 among independents.
(2) Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, 41/55. Independents are even more sour at 36/59.
(3) The president is upside-down on immigration policy, as well: 41/50 (and 35/55 with indies). Hispanics approve 62/35, with the numbers essentially reversed among whites.
(4) On the question of "caring" about "people like you" (typically Obama's calling card) he's down to 52/45 -- his worst score ever on this question in a Q-poll.
(5) On foreign policy, Obama has suffered a 16-point negative swing since May, dropping to an all-time low of 40/52. His ratings on Syria are dreadful, which may be impacting his overall foreign policy score, but I suspect Allahpundit is right that Obama's foreign policy troubles are more the result of cumulative erosion than specific critiques:
(5) On foreign policy, Obama has suffered a 16-point negative swing since May, dropping to an all-time low of 40/52. His ratings on Syria are dreadful, which may be impacting his overall foreign policy score, but I suspect Allahpundit is right that Obama's foreign policy troubles are more the result of cumulative erosion than specific critiques:
Or maybe, despite all appearances, O’s deterioration on foreign policy doesn’t have much to do with Syria at all. Between U.S. haplessness in Egypt, halting negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Obama’s continuing humiliation from the Snowden saga, maybe his decline in FP is a cumulative thing. Throw Scandalmania into the middle of all that and you’ve got lots of downward pressure on perceptions of Obama generally, which bleeds over into foreign policy.
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One issue not polled by Quinnipiac this time around? Healthcare. Note well that the president was struggling on that front in the latest Fox News poll, which came out before all of this became public. But Republicans are secretly scared that the disintegrating law will be awesome, or something.
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