Interesting news….Obama has dropped into negative territory for the first time in Rasmussen’s Strongly Support – Strongly Oppose daily tracking poll.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That’s the President’s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama (see trends).
Sixty percent (60%) of Democrats Strongly Approve of the President’s performance but only 8% of Republicans share that view. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republicans Strongly Disapprove.
Check out our weekly review of key polls to see “What They Told Us.”
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates also available on Twitter.
Overall, 53% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance so far. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove. For more Presidential barometers, see Obama By the Numbers and recent demographic highlights.
Obama is rapidly approaching major political vulnerability territory. For the first time, Rasmussen’s measure of political polarity has gone south on Obama. More people in this country now strongly dislike him than strongly like him. Based on the previous trending, it looks like this is because his support is beginning to cool off – strongly disapprove numbers are steady, but strongly approve numbers seem to be dropping slowly but surely. And his total overall approval in this poll, which is also dropping (and Rasmussen is one of the most accurate there is), is 53%? If I were a Democrat, the dogs would be smelling the stink of fear in my cold, cold sweat right about now.
Despite all of the hooplah about his “high approval ratings”, he is actually well below where most recent Presidents have been at five months into their first terms. Typically, if a President is this low after a mere five months in office, you can more accurately describe his “first term” as his “only term.”
