Forty percent (40%) of U.S. voters say President Obama – just six months into his presidency – has held too many televised press conferences. But 47% say the president has had about the right number of them.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only eight percent (8%) say Obama has not held enough press conferences so far.

The partisan breakdown is predictable. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Democrats say the president has had about the right number of press conferences, but 63% of Republicans say he’s had too many.

Among voters not affiliated with either party, 53% say Obama’s had too many press conferences, while 35% say the number’s been about right.

However, 74% of all voters say they are at least somewhat likely to watch a presidential press conference. Forty-one percent (41%) say they are very likely to do so. Just 10% say they are not at all likely to watch one.

The president on Wednesday night held his fifth press conference since taking office in January, the fourth in prime time, but he didn’t get a bounce from it as is generally the case. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll today finds his overall approval rating falling below 50% for the first time.

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Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters say most presidential press conferences are designed to build support for the president and his plans. Only 30% think they are intended to inform the American people.

Clearly, the current occupant of the White House influences the responses to this question, too. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and 70% of unaffiliated voters say press conferences are intended to build support for the president and his plans, but Democrats are closely divided on the question.

The president initially planned to hold this week’s press conference at 9 pm EDT, but resistance from some of the networks, reluctant to lose the advertising revenue at that hour, forced Obama to hold it an hour earlier.

Voters are evenly divided over whether the major television networks should be required to run a president’s press conference live: 46% say yes, 45% say no.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats believe the networks should be required to broadcast the press conferences live. Fifty-four percent (54%) of GOP voters and 63% of unaffiliateds disagree.

But most voters (53%) agree it is not possible to get all the important news from a presidential press conference unless you watch it. Only 30% believe it is possible to get all the important news by watching or reading a news report the next day.

The Wednesday night press conference was intended to promote the health care reform plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats. Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters now oppose the plan, while 44% support it.

In a new survey taken prior to the press conference, 53% of voters said the president is now governing like a partisan Democrat, while 32% think he is being bipartisan.

If the 2012 presidential election were held today, Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each. The president, seeking a second four-year term, beats another potential GOP rival, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, by six points – 48% to 42%.

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