June 25, 2011 11:58 AM
President Obama
The President’s job approval rating has settled in at just under 50%. He ranks 5th when matched against the previous 8 Presidents at this point of their 3rd year in office. [Based on Gallup surveys]| Approve | Disapprove | |
| G Bush (I) | 72% | 22% |
| GW Bush (II) | 61 | 36 |
| Eisenhower | 67 | 19 |
| Kennedy | 61 | 26 |
| Obama | 49 | 43 (6/17-19) |
| Clinton | 48 | 42 |
| Nixon | 48 | 39 |
| Reagan | 42 | 44 |
| Carter | 28 | 59 |
His job approval rating also jumped to varying degrees in other major surveys.
| NBC/WSJ | NYT/CBS | WP/ABC | |
| June 2011 | 62/29% | 48/43% (CBS) | 47/49% |
| May 2011 | 52/41% (NBC) | 57/37% | 56/38% |
| April 2011 | 49/45% | 46/45% | 47/50% |
While Obama has gotten great credit for his handling of foreign policy with the death of bin Laden, the public’s assessment of his handling of foreign policy has consistently been more positive than negative during his time in office. Currently, his job approval on foreign policy is 50%, compared to a disapproval of 44%. At no time has disapproval exceeded approval. The spreads between approval and disapproval have been as small as 3 points (4/11) and as high as 25 points (4/09).
The same cannot be said of the public’s assessment of how he has handled the economy. Currently, 54% disapprove of how he is handling the economy, while 41% approve. Disapproval has exceeded approval consistently since December 2009, with one exception. The exception was in May 2010, when approval exceeded disapproval by 2 points. [NBC/WSJ 6/11]
Given their choice of whether Obama or the Republicans in Congress would do a better job of handling:
- The economy – Republicans by 45% to 42%
- The Federal budget deficit – Republicans by 47% to 39%
- Protecting the Medicare system – Obama by 49% to 35%
- Creating jobs – Obama 43% - Republicans 42%
49% are at least somewhat positive in their feelings toward the President, while 37% have negative feelings. [NBC 6/11]
By 62% to 25% folks believe that Obama inherited the current economic condition.
2 1⁄2 years after he left office, President George W Bush is still being held more accountable than President Obama for the country’s current economic conditions. In fact, Bush is being held more accountable now than he was a year ago. [NBC/WSJ 6/11]
| Obama | Bush | Bush 6/10 | |
| Solely responsible | 10 | 14 | 12 |
| Mainly responsible | 24 | 33 | 28 |
| Only somewhat responsible | 48 | 43 | 46 |
| Not really responsible | 16 | 9 | 14 |
44% of Americans say they are worse off now than they were at the beginning of 2009, and 55% expect that American children will have a lower standard of living than their parents.
45% of respondents “strongly agree,” and another 16% “mostly agree,” that if the economy isn’t much improved by election day, he will have had his chance and it will be “very hard to vote for him.” [Bloomberg Poll 6/11]
