Agence France-Presse:US President Barack Obama’s approval rating has slumped to 50 percent, the lowest since his inauguration, according to a poll released Thursday on the eve of his 200th day in office.
Quinnipiac University said the president’s job approval rating dipped to 50-versus-42 percent, a reflection of growing unease over Obama’s handling of the economy, which sank into a devastating recession last year prompting his administration to unleash a deficit-stretching stimulus package, and health care which faces a critical overhaul in Congress.
The figure is a substantial drop from the 57-33 percent approval rating he had on July 2, and far less than the glowing numbers he enjoyed in the honeymoon first 100 days of his tenure.
If the White House wants to find solice in these numbers, it's in the fact that Republicans are faring even worse. "[W]hile Republicans disapproved of the Democratic president’s job performance by an expectedly large margin of 77-16 percent," we're told, "the poll found that Americans disapproved 59-29 percent of how Republicans in Congress were doing their job and that they trusted Obama over Republicans 47-36 percent to fix the economy and 46-37 percent to deal with health care."
So if you ask the average person whether they'd rather have Obama running the show or Republicans, they'd choose Obama. AFP also points out that "On Tuesday a Harris Interactive online survey showed a majority of Americans are in favor, 52-30 percent, of having a government-run, health care option as proposed by Obama."
It looks to me like people are just dissatisfied with government in general right now; Obama is government, Republicans are government, but Republicans are worse.
