U.S. stands divided on Obama with positive and negative ratings

Aug 24 2009

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?

President Obama has had a blistering summer that does not have much to do with the normal heat and humidity in Washington, D.C. He has had to deal with not just Republican opposition on health care reform, but also some disagreements within his own party. And, while the news on the economy has been slowly getting better, this still has not hit Americans’ wallets. Like so many other polling organizations, the Harris Poll is seeing President Obama at the lowest approval ratings of this still young presidency. And, there are signs that the nation is becoming more divided over him – whether by region, age or even gender. Yet, he can take comfort in knowing that people’s attitudes on the direction of the country as a whole are getting better, up dramatically from just 19% saying the country was going in the right direction when he took office in January.

Methodology

The Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States August 10 and 18, 2009 among 2,498 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com