Obama Drops Below 40% In Gallup Job Approval Poll

It may only be a one-time fluke, or it could be the beginning of a trend. In either case, President Obama’s job approval number has fallen below 40% for the first time in his Presidency, according to the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll:

President Obama’s summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup’s daily tracking poll.

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Obama’s approval rating has hovered in the 40% range for much of 2011, peaking at 53% in the weeks following the death of Osama bin Laden.

But Americans’ view of his job performance continued to tick downward as the debt-ceiling debate heated up. By the time he signed legislation averting a federal default, he was mired in the low-40% range.

Even if the Gallup number is on the low side, it’s still consistent with the President’s job approval numbers of late, which have been trending negative for most of the past two months:

Obviously this is largely a reflection of the state of the economy. Unless that turns around, these numbers aren’t going to improve significantly and are likely to get worse.

FILED UNDER: Public Opinion Polls, US Politics, , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. superdestroyer says:

    I always thought that 45% was the bottom since about 45% of adults are automatic Democratic Party voters. That the number is below that means that there are Democrats who are mad at the president because he will not tax others enough and give them the money or other such programs.

    The president is really stuck in that his administration cannot even think about implementing what many in the Democratic party really want: very high taxes and a massive expansion of entitlements. Thus, the Democrats will continue to be unhappy.

  2. Catfish says:

    His approval rating goes up or down in relation to the unemployment rate. Obama needs to ask business owners – small and large, what it would take to start hiring workers. Maybe tax cuts, less government regulations; I don’t know. They do and would be glad to give advice to the president. It is way past time to get moving to get moving on this.

  3. Axel Edgren says:

    “His approval rating goes up or down in relation to the unemployment rate. Obama needs to ask business owners – small and large, what it would take to start hiring workers. Maybe tax cuts, less government regulations; I don’t know. They do and would be glad to give advice to the president. It is way past time to get moving to get moving on this. ”

    NOTHING useful or remotely centrist or moderate will get through congress.

    Republicans in congress will vote for far-right legislation. Anything else – NO.

  4. Ezee says:

    Axel, put the crack pipe down

  5. john personna says:

    It would be interesting to hear some “exit poling” from switchers, that is what the people who just flipped were really thinking. People who were pro- or con- Obama all through this aren’t really going to have a feel for it.

    My guess, and it is only a guess, is that all of Washington continues to be downgraded, with congress plumbing further depths of disapproval and etc.

  6. Dave Schuler says:

    I think that’s a pretty good take, john personna. The difference between Congress and the president, of course, is that presidents are elected at large and Congressmen aren’t. That means that the real significant statistics are the district by district polling of individual Congressmen. I haven’t checked it recently but that was trending down, too.

  7. An Interested Party says:

    Axel, put the crack pipe down

    You should follow your own advice, as you are obviously quite confused about the current state of politics in Washington…

  8. Gustopher says:

    Even if Obama’s popularity is plummeting, the Republicans still have to present a credible alternative. Right now, the Republicans are even less popular, with the Tea Party less popular still.

    If the Republicans in congress were even pretending to be reasonable, it would make it hard for Obama to run against the insane wing of the Republicans. But right now, the insane wing is leading the Republicans.

    Any Republican is going to have to roll around in batsh.t to get through the primaries, and come out smelling batsh.t insane at the end.

  9. Tano says:

    Meanwhile, Rasmussen, with their acknowledged GOP-biased sampling method, still has Obama approval at 44%.

    I’ll go with outlier for now….

  10. bandit says:

    39% of those polled must be meth addicts. Obama is an abject failure in every possible sense.