As the summer winds down, President Obama’s job numbers continue to move in a downward way. In June, 54% of U.S. adults gave him positive ratings and 46% gave the president negative marks. Two months and a huge debate over health care later, these numbers have dropped to 51% of Americans giving him positive marks and 49% giving him negative marks. The nation is split almost down the middle on the overall job President Obama is doing.
These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll®, a new nationwide survey of 2,498 U.S. adults surveyed online between August 10 and 18, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.
Looking at how certain groups feel about President Obama’s job shows where some cracks are appearing:
- It is not surprising that Democrats give President Obama an overwhelmingly positive job rating in comparison to Republicans (81% vs. 13%). Among Independents, however, more give him negative ratings (53%) than positive (47%);
- There is a reverse gender gap emerging. Normally with a Democratic president, women are more likely than men to give higher approval ratings. Right now, this isn’t the case as over half of men (53%) give President Obama positive marks while over half of women (52%) give him negative ratings;
- Three in five Easterners (61%) and 55% of Westerners give President Obama positive ratings. Majorities of Southerners (57%) and Midwesterners (53%) give him negative ratings;
- There are generational differences. Majorities of Echo Boomers (those 18-32) and Baby Boomers (those 45-63) give President Obama positive ratings (53% and 55% respectively). Majorities of Gen Xers (those 33-44) and Matures (those 64 and older) give him negative marks (54% and 57% respectively); and,
- Attitudes on the direction of the country continue to drift upward. This month, 46% believe it is going in the right direction and 54% say it is going off on the wrong track. In June, 43% said it was going in the right direction, while 57% said it was going off on the wrong track.
So What?