Quinnipiac Poll: Obama's Approval Rating Hits New Low
Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013 07:36 AM
The survey of 2,545 voters conducted Nov. 6-11 found that only 39 percent of respondents approved of Obama's job performance, compared with 54 percent who didn't. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
Among women voters, one of Obama's biggest support groups, only 40 percent said they approved of his performance in the White House, versus 51 percent who said they did not.
For the first time in the Quinnipiac survey, 52 percent of voters said they thought Obama was not honest and trustworthy. That compared with 44 percent who said he was.
The president's previous lowest marks on honesty were on May 30, when 49 percent of voters surveyed said he was honest and 47 percent said he was not.
"Like all new presidents, President Barack Obama had a honeymoon with American voters, with approval ratings in the high 50s," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"As the marriage wore on, he kept his job-approval scores in the respectable, though not overwhelming, 40s. Today, for the first time, it appears that 40 percent floor is cracking," Malloy said.
"Any Democrat with an 11-point approval deficit among women is in trouble. And any elected official with an 8-point trust deficit is in serious trouble."
The latest Quinnipiac poll results come as problems continue to plague the rollout of Obamacare, with the president saying last week that he was "sorry" millions of Americans would be losing their health insurance under the beleaguered program.
Many critics called Obama's apology too little, too late — especially in light of the president's repeated promises that Americans could keep their health plans and doctors under Obamacare if they wanted to.
"President Obama's misstatement, 'If you like your health plan, you can keep it,' left a bad taste with a lot of people," Malloy said. "Nearly half of the voters, 46 percent, think he knowingly deceived them."
House Speaker John Boehner was among the many Republicans who attacked the president's admission last week.
The apology, the Ohio Republican said, was "certainly in order, but what Americans want to hear is that the president is going to keep his promise."
House Republicans are expected to vote this week on legislation that would allow Americans to keep the healthcare plans they liked.
Voters also blamed Obama in part for the 16-day shutdown of the federal government last month, which furloughed as many as 800,000 workers and cost taxpayers $2 billion.
The overall Quinnipiac survey results released on Tuesday compared with a 49 percent disapproval rating on Oct. 1. In that survey, Obama's approval rating was 54 percent.
His previous lowest score in the survey was 55 percent to 41 percent disapproval in a poll conducted on Oct. 6, 2011.
Voters in every income and age group disapproved of how Obama is doing on the job, with the biggest disapproval rating, 59 percent to 36 percent, coming from voters over 65, the Quinnipiac survey found.
Respondents also told Quinnipiac — 53 percent to 43 percent — that the Obama administration was incompetent in running the government.
They also said, 51 percent to 43 percent, that the president was not paying attention to the workings of his administration.
Obama received a 52 percent to 42 percent approval rating, however, for handling terrorism, compared with negative scores for handling these other foreign and domestic issues, Quinnipiac found:
- 38 percent to 53 percent on foreign policy.
- 35 percent to 53 percent on immigration.
- 32 percent to 62 percent on the federal budget.
- 36 percent to 60 percent on healthcare.
- 38 percent to 59 percent on the economy.
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