August 17, 2012 11:58 AM
President Obama
With less than three months to go before the general election, the public’s grade for the job President Obama is doing (as found by Gallup) is lower than that of 5 of the previous Presidents at this point in their first term. The list of 8 follows.The President’s job approval rating in Gallup on August 12th was 45% approval and 49% disapproval.
| App | Dis | |
| Eisenhower | 68 | 19 |
| Nixon | 56 | 33 (6/12) |
| Reagan | 54 | 38 |
| Clinton | 53 | 39 |
| G Bush (II) | 49 | 43 |
| Obama | 45 | 49 (8/12/12) |
| G Bush (I) | 40 | 54 |
| Carter | 32 | 55 |
The following are several additional cuts at the President's job approval rating over the last 16 months.
| NBC/WSJ | NYT/CBS | WP/ABC | CNN/ORC | |
| Aug 2012 | -- | -- | -- | 49/48% |
| July 2012 | 49/48% | 44/46% | 47/49% | -- |
| June 2012 | 47/48% | -- | -- | -- |
| May 2012 | 48/46% | -- | 47/49% | -- |
| April 2012 | 49/46% | 48/42% | 50/45% | 49/48% |
| March 2012 | 50/45% | 41/47% | 46/50% | 51/45% |
| February 2012 | --- | 50/43% | 50/46% | 50/48% |
| January 2012 | 48/46% | 45/47% (CBS) | 48/48% | 47/51% |
| December 2011 | 46/48% | 44/46% (CBS) | 49/47% | 49/48% |
| October 2011 | 44/51% | 46/46% | 42/54% | 45/52% |
| August 2011 | 44/51% | 48/47% | 44/46% WP | 44/54% |
| January 2011 | 53/41% | 48/49% | 54/43% | 53/45% |
Americans continue to rate Obama negatively on the economy, disapproving the job he is doing 53% to the 44% who approve of what he is doing. This is roughly the flip of how he is seen on handling foreign policy, where 53% approve of the job he is doing and 41% disapprove. [NBC/WSJ 7/12]
Among a group of 11 occupational groups, the group that is most positive about the President’s performance are professional workers. 52% approve of the job he is doing. The group that most disapproves of the job he is doing are business owners, of whom 57% disapprove.
The only other groups that are more approving than disapproving of his job performance are clerical/office workers at 51% and service workers at 50%.
Among the balance of the groups, their disapproval ranges from
- 51% - sales workers, installation/repair workers, manufacturing/production
- 52% - manager/executive/official
- 53% - construction/mining worker
- 55% - transportation worker
- 57% - farming, fishing, forestry worker
Currently, 49% of us have positive feelings toward the President and 43% have negative feelings. Last month it was 48% positive and 38% negative. The change is a product of a drop in the number of people who are described as neutral, from 14% in June to 8% in July. This is the lowest neutral group recorded in this survey since Obama became President. The previous low was 10% who described themselves as neutral in May of this year, when 49% said they were positive toward the President and 41% were recorded as negative. [NBC/WSJ 4/12]
When asked about their “feelings” toward Obama, 67% like him personally, but a good chunk of those folks disapprove of many of his policies. 29% don’t like him or his policies.
Like Obama personally/approve of most of his policies 41%
Like Obama personally/disapprove of many of his policies 26%
Don’t like Obama personally/approve of most of his policies 2%
Don’t like Obama personally/disapprove of many of his policies 29%
[NBC/WSJ 7/12]
