President Barack Obama’s Approval Ratings Reach New Lows in New Polling

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 19, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

President Barack Obama’s Approval Ratings Reach New Lows in New Polling

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 19
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With an aggressive pro-abortion agenda and spending his time lobbying for government-run health care bills that would force taxpayers to fund abortions, President Barack Obama is seeing his approval ratings dip to their lowest levels in two new polls.

A Rasmussen survey released today shows, of those who hold the most passionate views, 27% of the nation’s voters strongly approve of Obama performance while 41 percent strongly disapprove. That -14 rating matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for Obama by Rasmussen.

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance, according to the new poll while 52 percent now disapprove.

Meanwhile, a newly released Quinnipiac University poll finds 48 percent approve of Obama’s job performance while 42 percent disapprove. That is the first time the polling institute has found Obama’s approval rating below 50 percent.

The poll also showed an overwhelming number of American voters say they like President Obama as a person but disapprove of most of his policies.

A subsequent Quinnipiac poll, which surveyed 2,518 registered voters nationwide from Nov. 9 to 16, found that Obama’s approach to health care reform is among the president’s most unpopular domestic priorities — with 53 percent saying they disapprove of his policy on health reform while 41 percent said they approve.

"Most Americans like President Barack Obama and might like to have a beer with him," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release Thursday. "But millions of voters who sided with him last November because they thought he would bring change to Washington aren’t crazy about the kind of change he is trying to bring."

"That is especially true of independent voters, many of whom used to be Republicans turned off by the Bush years. They may not yet have returned to their former political home, but many have concluded Obama isn’t offering their kind of solutions," Brown added.

Obama’s endorsement of the House of Representatives-passed health care plan makes no difference to 44 percent of American voters, while 24 percent say it makes them view him more favorably; 30 percent less favorably.

Voters disapprove 51 – 35 percent of the health care overhaul passed by the House of Representatives which he has endorsed.

"The health care overhaul which passed the House 12 days ago gets a failing grade from the American people and so does Obama on the issue," said Brown. "Independent voters disapprove 59 – 35 percent of the President’s handling of health care and disapprove 57 – 29 percent of the plan itself."

Overall, support for the plan drops as you go up the age and income scale, while the gender gap is significant: men disapprove 56 – 33 percent while women disapprove 46 – 37 percent.

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