November 23, 2013 11:56 AM
President Obama
The public’s grade for the job President Obama is doing (as found by Gallup) is 41% approval/56% disapproval, as of 11/19/13. Of the 5 most recent two-term Presidents at this point in their second term, Obama’s current approval rating is better than George Bush II and Richard Nixon. The list of 6 follows:| Approve | Disapprove | |
| Reagan | 65 | 24 (11/18/85) |
| Eisenhower | 58 | 27 (11/12/57) |
| Clinton | 61 | 30 (11/23/97) |
| Obama | 41 | 56 (11/19/13) |
| G Bush (II) | 38 | 57 (11/20/05) |
| Nixon | 27 | 63 (11/5/73) |
| Date | NBC/WSJ | WP/ABC | CNN/ORC | NYT/CBS |
| Nov 2013 | xxx | 42/55% | 41/56% | 37/57% (CBS) |
| Oct 2013 | 42/51% | 49/49% | xxx | xxx |
| Oct 2013 | 47/48% | xxx | 43/53% | 46/49% (CBS) |
| Sept 2013 | 45/50% | 47/47% | 45/52% | 46/46% |
| Aug 2013* | 44/48% (NBC) | xxx | xxx | xxx |
| July 2013 | 45/50% | 49/44% | xxx | 48/45% (CBS) |
| June 2013 | 48/47% | xxx | 45/54%* | 47/43% |
| Apr 2013 | 47/48% | 50/45%* | 51/47% | 47/45% |
| Jan 2013 | 52/44% | 55/41% | 55/43% | 51/41% |
| * Latest survey in this line | ||||
On not a single one of the following issues, does Obama have an approval rating of more than 38%.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| The economy | 37% | 60% |
| Foreign policy | 38 | 54 |
| Health care | 36 | 61 |
| Immigration | 37 | 52 |
| Federal Deficit | 29 | 66 |
| [Fox News 11/13] | ||
Perhaps of greater significance, Obama's ratings on a number of personal qualities have gone negative for the first time.
52% say that Obama is not honest and trustworthy.
50% say he does not have strong leadership qualities.
To add insult to injury, 51% say that Obama is “not paying enough attention to what his administration is doing.” 53% say the Administration has not been competent in running the government. [Quinnipiac 11/13]
51% say he does not understand “the problems of people like you.” [WP/ABC 11/13]
45% have negative feelings toward Obama with 41% having positive feelings. [NBC/WSJ 10/28/13]
52% have an unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama. [WP/ABC 11/13]
45% say that Obama’s views are too liberal. This is the highest number taking this position since he became President. [WP/ABC 11/13]
2016
It is way too early to handicap the 2016 Presidential race. So, for the foreseeable future the Watch’s only attention to the race will be to keep a running list of folks who are being mentioned in one source or another. The Republican list has been expanded since the October edition of WW.| Republicans | Democrats |
| Jeb Bush | Joe Biden |
| Chris Christie | Hillary Clinton |
| Bobby Jindal | Andrew Cuomo |
| Rand Paul | Kristin Gillibrand |
| Marco Rubio | Amy Klobuchar |
| Paul Ryan | Martin O’Malley |
| Mike Pence | Elizabeth Warren |
| John Kasich | Howard Dean |
| Scott Walker | |
| Ted Cruz |
Here is another observation from Mathew Dowd that hits the spot.
“The GOP is a party that looks demographically like a party of the future, but with solutions based too much on the past. And the Democrats look demographically like a party of the future, but with solutions based too much on the past. We need a party that both looks like America today and tomorrow, and with policies, solutions and governmental structure designed for the future. We are not getting that from either party.” [10/11/13]
