Obama Approval Hits New Lows

September 2, 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama's approval ratings have hit new lows.

A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday puts President Obama's overall job disapproval rating at a record 52 percent, with 42 percent in favor of his performance. Congressional leaders fare even worse in the ratings.

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed for a CNN/ORC poll say they disapprove of the president's handling of the economy.

The CNN poll finds 66 percent of respondents disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the federal deficit, while 62 percent are unhappy with his handling of unemployment, which remains at above 9 percent nationally.

President Obama received higher marks on foreign policy issues, with a majority of those surveyed in support of his handling of terrorism as well as the situation in Libya.

On Monday, the U.S. holiday of Labor Day, Mr. Obama is to visit the city of Detroit to discuss his efforts to create jobs and strengthen the economy. Detroit has been hit hard with home foreclosures and the loss of manufacturing jobs. In July, the Detroit area had a jobless rate of more than 15 percent.

Next Thursday, Mr. Obama is to deliver a speech to Congress on his economic plans.

In a sign of continued fraught relations between the two political parties, the date for the president's speech was only settled Wednesday after a public disagreement with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, the top lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

The president says he will announce in the address what he called “bipartisan proposals” that Congress could immediately enact. The sluggish American economy is still reeling from the global economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, with about 14 million U.S. workers unemployed and millions more working part-time or in jobs they consider beneath their skill levels.

Mr. Obama's re-election chances next year may largely hinge on the nation's economic fortunes.

Only 53 percent of respondents in the CNN poll say they trust Mr. Obama as the nation's commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, 73 percent say things in the country are going either “pretty” or “very” badly.