Approval Rating for Pro-Abortion President Barack Obama Hits New Low
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 8, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new Marist College survey shows President Barack Obama’s approval rating at its lowest point since he took over the White House 13 months ago. The poll, conducted February 1-3, showed 44% of registered voters approving of Obama’s job as president with 47 percent disapproving.
Obama’s 44% job approval rating is his lowest in any poll not conducted using the Internet since he became president according to a review of data compiled by the Pollster web site.
The new Marist survey found Obama faring worse with independent voters, as just 29 percent approve while 57 percent disapprove of his job as president.
Obama is also losing voters on how they view him personally, not just professionally.
All registered voters still see Obama favorably by a 50%-44% margin, but that mark is down five percent in the last two months. And independent voters view Obama negatively by a 39% favorable to 52% unfavorable margin.
The poll shows 47% believe Obama has failed to meet their expectations — including about one-quarter of Democrats, 65% of Republicans and 53% of independent voters.
Jim Geraghty of the National Review web site noticed the numbers and said the ones concerning independent voters and their take on Obama personally "jumped out at me."
"Keep in mind, this isn’t job approval, i.e., how do you think Obama is performing his duties. This is essentially, ‘Do you approve of him as a person?’ Obama usually garners significantly higher numbers in this category," the conservative writer explains.
"In other words, independents aren’t just disappointed with how Obama is as president; they’re starting to not like him," Geraghty noted. "Clearly, this calls for a long, heavily hyped, nationally televised speech."
When it comes to Obama and abortion itself, a February Gallup poll found strong majority of Americans are upset that President Barack Obama overturned a policy that prevented funding of groups that promote or perform abortions overseas. In overturning the Mexico City Policy, Obama reneged on his promise to reduce abortions as president.
As LifeNews.com reported, the pro-life policy had been in place during the entirety of the Bush administration and Obama rescinded it on his first week in office.
Reacting to the decision in a poll conducted by the Gallup organization, 58 percent of Americans opposed Obama’s pro-abortion decision while just 35 percent supported it and 7 percent had no opinion.
Breaking down the new poll further, Gallup asked respondents to state their opinion on seven major actions President Obama has taken since becoming president. Overturning the Mexico City Policy engendered more opposition than any of the other actions and it had the lowest level of support.
The pro-abortion move also evoked the least support from Democrats and the most opposition from Republicans and independents.
While 59 percent of Democrats supported the move, it came in last among the seven total issues on which Gallup surveyed.
Only 8 percent of Republicans backed overturning the limits as did just 33 percent of the independent voters surveyed — with opposition higher about this action than any other Obama has taken a president.
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