Pres. Obama's Approval Rating Has Dropped Below 50%...Its The Economy

Pres. Obama approval rating drops below 50 percent


President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 48 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll out Wednesday.

The poll shows Obama’s approval rating dropping below 50 percent for the first time since taking office as support for the war in Afghanistan drops and the economy continues to struggle.

The same poll showed the president enjoyed a 50 percent approval rating last month.

The poll shows an “erosion of support” for the war in Afghanistan, with 48 percent saying that fighting the war is the right thing to do, compared to 52 percent in an October survey.

Only 47 percent of those surveyed say Obama should send 40,000 more troops to the region, something the president has been contemplating for months.

The poll also showed a deep divide between the parties on the issue, with support for the war much higher in the Republican Party. Only 27 percent of Democrats polled say more troops should be sent to Afghanistan, compared to 68 percent of Republicans.

Approval of the way Obama is handling the economy has also dipped from 52 percent in October to 47 percent in November.

Quinnipiac said the drop in the rating is not statistically important, though it is symbolically.

“Although President Obama's job approval rating is below 50 percent for the first time nationally, it is not statistically different from his 50 percent approval rating in October," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. “Nevertheless, in politics, symbols matter and this is not a good symbol for the White House.”

The numbers on Afghanistan are falling as Obama continues to deliberate on a strategy for the way forward in the region.

“One reason the president's approval for his handling of the Afghanistan situation may be falling is the criticism he is not deciding on troop levels quickly enough,” Brown said on the institute’s website.

Obama is expected to make a decision on troop levels and a strategy for Afghanistan in coming weeks. Republican critics have accused him of dithering on the decision.

In a related development, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was traveling in Asia with the president, made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on Wednesday to witness President Hamid Karzai’s inauguration.



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Sources: The Hill, Quinnipiac Poll, Scrape TV, Google Maps