# Obama Sees Popularity Drop



## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

*Obama Approval Rating Dips in July*

*By Frank Newport, Gallup Poll*
posted: *2 HOURS 59 MINUTES AGO*
comments: *2453*
filed under: *Political News*

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PRINCETON, N.J. (July 12) - President Barack Obama averaged a 58% job approval rating for the first eight days of July, down from an average of 61% for June, according to the *Gallup Poll*. His approval rating is down most significantly among independents, to 53% so far in July from an average of 59% in June; it has dropped two points among Republicans (from 25% in June to 23% so far in July) and has gone up a point among Democrats, to 90%.
Democrats have remained stalwart in their support for Obama all year, with this month's average rating of 90% roughly in line with where it has been all year.

Among Republicans, Obama's standing has dropped from 40% in late January to 23% in early July, the biggest falloff among the three partisan groups across the first six months of the Obama administration. Independents' overall downward shift across the January to early July time period has been nine points, significantly less than the drop among Republicans, although, as noted, independents have dropped most in the July-to-June comparison.

In addition to monthly averages, Gallup reports Obama's job approval rating at Gallup.com each day, based on three-day rolling averages. Obama reached a new administration low of 56% for July 5-7; his approval average is one point higher at 57% for the latest three-day period, July 6-8.
*Comparisons to Other First-Year Presidents*
From a historical perspective, Obama's current July rating is not exceptional. It is roughly the same as the rating of George W. Bush in early July of his first year, although well above that of Bill Clinton in July 1993 (Clinton had by far the worst ratings in the summer of his first year of all presidents elected to their first terms since Eisenhower). Other presidents from 1952 on enjoyed higher ratings in July of their initial years in office than has been the case for the last three presidents, the one exception being Richard Nixon, whose 58% reading in mid-July 1969 is identical to where Obama is now. Thus, Obama's current approval rating is above-average only in comparison to Clinton at the same point in time. It is essentially on par with where Bush and Nixon were, but at least slightly worse than all other presidents (with the exception of Clinton). In particular, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush all had significantly higher ratings in the summer of their first year than does Obama at this point.
*Looking Ahead*
It is not unusual to find job approval ratings drifting downward as presidents' honeymoon periods begin to fade. The drop in Obama approval seen so far in July is to some degree expected. What happens from this point, however, on is highly unpredictable. Presidents like Reagan and Clinton did not begin to recover from first-year dropoffs in their ratings until well into their second, third, and fourth years -- just in time to ensure both presidents of solidly successful re-election bids. George H.W. Bush saw his job approval ratings shoot up at the beginning of his third year in office on the basis of the successful Persian Gulf War, only to fall precipitously thereafter, ultimately leading to his being voted out of office in the 1992 election. In similar fashion, Jimmy Carter's job approval ratings began to suffer in his second year in office. Although he enjoyed some upticks at various points thereafter, his overall averages remained low -- particularly in his final two years -- and Reagan defeated him decisively in the 1980 election. George W. Bush's job approval rating, as is well known, leaped to the highest level in Gallup Poll history after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and remained high enough in the remaining three years to help him successfully gain re-election in 2004.


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## Harley387 (May 1, 2002)

90% among Democrats???!!! My ass!!


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## jettsixx (Dec 10, 2005)

58% is 58% higher than I give him


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## HELPMe (Dec 17, 2004)

Keep freeing terrorists and making a mockery of the US military. That will surely get your approval rating to go up. Why not disgrace every person in the military that gave their life in the past 6 years.


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## Ilyas (Jan 22, 2007)

its about time that people see what they voted for


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

Imagine if Obama pulled this crap with the WWII POWs from Germany and in some cases Japan, and released them during the war from the POW Prisons in the U.S. on U.S. Soil.

I think Obama would be impeached and thrown out of office.


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## Kem25 (Aug 7, 2007)

Just like Deval within two years his approval rating will be around 33-35% and people will be counting down till the next election!


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2009)

They wanted him, they got him.


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2009)

Strangely, his popularity around the world is going up? Oh yeah. He is president of the UNIVERSE


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

5-0 said:


> He is president of the UNIVERSE


Is that the official title of modern-day messiahs? I must have not gotten that memo. Thanks for clearing that up for me.


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

*Obama feels the heat, changes the play*

Finally, we're starting to see him sweat. 
President Barack Obama made his personal icy cool the trademark of his campaign, the tenor of his White House and the hallmark of an early run of successes at home and abroad. But as the glamour wears off and a long, frustrating summer wears on, he is being forced to improvise - stooping to respond to political foes and adjusting his tactics and demeanor for the trench warfare of a legislative agenda. 
The root of the change is one that faces every president: Economic and international realities that resist political charm. Iran and North Korea have shown no interest in the president's outstretched hand. The economy has delivered a double-whammy, with rising unemployment stirring voters' concerns while sluggish growth deprives the government of tax revenues Obama would like to spend on new programs. 
Health care reform, which once appeared flush with momentum from earlier congressional victories, is now on a slog through no less than five committees, which include Democrats who either aren't sold on Obama's expansive vision or can't figure out how to convince voters to pay for it. 
"This is when it gets harder," the president told supporters June 30. 
And so it has. 
In turn, Obama has adjusted, deviating from the playbook on every front. 
The cool president has turned hot on the stump, stripping to shirtsleeves to lambaste doubters in New Jersey Thursday. He departed from his prepared remarks last week to accept a Republican challenge to take personal ownership of the economy: "That's fine. Give it to me," he said. 
Even Obama's scripted speeches are deliberately more forceful, aggressive and direct in taking on critics, aides say. Friday remarks at the White House had a trash-talk edge - count me out and you'll be sorry. 
Obama's political operation has dispensed with its post-inauguration cocktails for Republicans - or more often, ignoring them outright - in favor of the old politics of engage, attack and cajole. Obama's even engaging in a little Democrat-on-Democrat politics, as his ex-campaign arm is beaming TV ads into the home states of moderate fence-sitters on health care. 
The tightly programmed White House also is champing at the bit, kicking off what officials say will be a relentless three-week push on health care, starting with the hastily scheduled Friday address. But its first event might have backfired a bit. Its main consequence was proving that the magnetism of Obama's personal appearances has worn off, as it drew little media attention and a dismissive tweet from the key Senate Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa: "Waste of time." 
The sum has been a new sense of uncertainty and strain, and a growing murmur among Democrats in Washington nervous about the White House's tactics, and a rising tide of concern in the states as local Democratic parties eye midterm elections that are traditionally a challenge for a new president. 
"That honeymoon period is over, " said Chris Redfern, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. "Now they're having to push back, and push back hard." 
White House officials and allies brush off any notion that this new sense of unease is meaningful. The only true test, they say, will be results. Obama still might win major health care reform legislation this year that could be the most important new government program in decades. He has a fighting chance to pass regulations on greenhouse gases, in the form of a "cap and trade" mechanism, through the Senate. And Obama continues to press hard, if with no clear progress, for a breakthrough in the Middle East. 
"It's the third quarter, he's down by a point, and he's got his best player on the bench - what really is going to be important is the fall," said James Carville, the veteran Democratic observer. 
"If he gets what's perceived to be some kind of a major health care thing, gets the climate bill through, if the economy recovers, then we'll all say he had a hell of a summer. Conversely, if the thing falls apart, we'll say that by July the 19th we could tell the thing was going bad." 
White House Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer dismissed the suggestion that Obama should be expected to succeed effortlessly - or that he's on a path toward failure on any of these varied fronts. 
"Obama and his team have been down this road dozens of times and been declared dead many times and always succeeded," he said. "No one gets rich betting against Barack Obama."
The most visible aspect of the White House's new feistiness is an increasing willingness to engage Republican legislators whose criticisms Obama earlier had been happier to overlook. Relentless criticism of the stimulus package from a House Republican leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, drew a furious barrage from the Democratic National Committee and a visit from no smaller figure than the Vice President of the United States. Rank and file Republicans who criticize the stimulus have also suddenly found themselves under a concerted DNC assault that asks if they'd prefer the federal funding left their districts out. And criticism from Sen Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) drew letters from no fewer than four Cabinet secretaries to his state's governor, asking if she would prefer they withheld stimulus money.

That pushback has been urged, and welcomed, by state leaders like Redfern and Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer. 
"The DNC has been and we were quickly able to rebut and demonstrate all the money that is being spent in their respective districts," said Brewer of two GOP congressmen attacking the stimulus. "They've backed off." 
Still, many Democrats say the Republican attacks on spending are taking their toll. 
"The rhetoric is so empty, but it is fairly consistent and I think it's had an impact on those in middle," said Ohio's Redfern. 
But when the White House pushback focused not on Republicans but Democrats on health-care - in the form of Organizing for America ads running in the home states of moderate senators -- some in the party called foul, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) 
The vote last month in the House on the American Clean Energy Security Act showed a willingness to get White House hands dirty in a different way. 
Wrangling votes for the "cap and trade" legislation in the House, Obama backed off a campaign promise to auction off all "allowances" - permits to release a set amount of greenhouse gases. Instead of selling them to raise money for other environmental initiatives, the White House allowed congressional Democratic leaders to trade them for votes, assigning allowances to the refinery-heavy district of, for instance, Texas Rep. Gene Green in exchange for his support. 
The battle over health care, the centerpiece of the President's summer, has also hardened into a fairly conventional Washington fight, a new president's sweeping agenda colliding with congressional caution. Obscure Washington figures like Congressional Budget Office chief Doug Elmendorf and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have shown the ability to pose a real threat to the White House juggernaut. And some of the White House's close allies have grown jittery about what they say is a strategy to spend the three weeks leading up to the Senate's August recess - the insecure deadline for health care votes in both houses - with a series of events aimed at building public pressure on Congress. 
"They're great at campaigns, but legislative battles are different," said a senior Democrat close to the White House. "It's not about persuading 51 percent of the American people - it's about seven senators." 
In another mark of Obama's constant adjustments, his latest remarks didn't mention the August deadline. 
White House allies acknowledge the new strains, but say the hard work will pay off. 
"A lot of the hard stuff he's doing now will pay dividends," said John Del Cecato, a former Obama campaign aide. 
Meanwhile, admiration of Obama's personal qualities has been tempered, even among sympathetic observers, with anxiety for where his agenda will stand at summer's end. 
Comedy Central's Jon Stewart noted recently that Obama told a Pakistani interviewer that he is an accomplished chef of Pakistani cuisines and reads the great Urdu poets. "Mr. President," Stewart said, "while I am impressed with your Renaissance Man-level of knowledge in a plethora of subjects, may I humbly say: That's great. Just fix the economy!"


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

Hopefully the administrations approval ratings will reach crush depth before the next election.

I kept telling myself that if this guy made it to the White House, it's inevitable that the rest of the country will be in the same pee-filled kiddie pool that his buddy already dunked Massachusetts in...


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## jmestano (Aug 31, 2008)

If the independents don't wake up and acknowledge that Obama is destroying our country with debt and useless social programs, we're screwed. However, I think they will wake up. People are not happy with the stimulus package debt, or with its lack of results. This thing was supposed to create jobs- where are they? It was supposed to help rebuild our infrastructure- where are the improvements? Instead, cops, firefighters, and teachers are losing their jobs. That's your infrastructure, right there.

People will get sick of this shit, as the Obama honeymoon wears off.


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## Nuke_TRT (Feb 10, 2008)




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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

Ilyas said:


> its about time that people see what they voted for


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

What a shocker! Guess all those white guilt voters just realized that sucking sound was coming from their wallets


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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

justanotherparatrooper said:


> What a shocker! Guess all those white guilt voters just realized that sucking sound was coming from their wallets


I thought that the sucking sound came from the liberal media lining up to blow Obama.


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## LGriffin (Apr 2, 2009)

rg1283 said:


> Imagine if Obama pulled this crap with the WWII POWs from Germany and in some cases Japan, and released them during the war from the POW Prisons in the U.S. on U.S. Soil.
> I think Obama would be impeached and thrown out of office.


Don't forget about the Bermuda vacations for "alleged" terrorists. In any event, the "community organizer" would've never been voted in back when people had a brain, they would have heard the "change" platform and had a good laugh. Oh, I wish I could go back in time, the hippies have totally screwed up our nation.


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## tsunami (Aug 12, 2009)

i guess after all i couldnt save u all


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