Obama Hits New Low Amid Debt, Job Woes
- Published on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 00:00
- Written by Sean Higgins, Investor's Business Daily
- Hits: 401
In Monday's press conference, President Obama said he is willing to take "significant heat from my party" to get a budget deal with Republicans.
If that happens, the Democrats will be latecomers. July's IBD/TIPP poll finds an already-disgruntled public increasingly turning away from the president and opposed to any debt ceiling hike.
The Presidential Leadership Index tumbled 8.7% to 45.4, a new low for Obama. Readings below 50 signal disapproval.
The poll found a plurality disapproving of the job he is doing, 48%-40%. That's down from a mixed 44%-44% a month ago.
Public opinion was split until debt ceiling talks began in earnest. Obama has joined the negotiations but has thus far failed to secure a deal, insisting that Republicans must accept some tax increases.
Meanwhile, the economic news has been grim. The jobless rate is back to 9.2% as hiring stalls. Gas prices have fallen from their peak of nearly $4 a gallon in May, but remain high at $3.63 a gallon.
It doesn't help that Obama is fighting to raise the debt ceiling, something the public strongly rejects, 58%-36%. That includes 59% of independents, and even 38% of Democrats.
The public opposes a higher ceiling even if the federal government promised not to increase spending, 51%-42% .
"You can tell that people really don't trust politicians' promises, said Karlyn Bowman, polling expert for the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "What they are saying is, 'Get serious.'"
While Obama's tough talk — last week he compared the Re publicans to children who hadn't finished their homework — may have helped shore up support with Democrats, it hasn't won over moderates.
"Independents tend to be a big entity behind the slides," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelli gence, which conducted the poll.
Just 16% of independents gave Obama a thumbs up on handling the economy in July, down from 25% in June, Mayur noted.
Overall on the economy, he gets "poor" ratings from 49% vs. 25% saying he's doing a good job. The figures are getting worse: 45% gave him bad grades on the econo my in June '11 and 41% in July '10.
The trend suggests the public increasingly believes Obama is responsible for the economy even as he continues to stress that he "inherited" an awful situation.
A report this month by Democracy Corps, a strategy group run by pollster Stanley Greenberg and James Carville, urged Democrats to drop this argument: "Every Democratic message focused on the past tested dismally."
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