46% Say Obama Doing Poor Job on the Economy
Nearly half of U.S. voters give President Obama poor marks for his handling of the economy, but he continues to earn higher respect for his performance in the area of national security.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 34% rate the president’s handling of economic issues as good or excellent. Forty-six percent (46%) say Obama is doing a poor job in that area. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Poor ratings for the president’s handling of the economy are up seven points from last week, but the latest finding is more consistent with his job ratings on the economy over the past year. The president’s highest poor rating of 50% was last measured in October 2010. His positive marks on the economy fell to 31% in mid-March, the lowest point since he took office.
But 45% of voters think the president is doing a good or excellent job on national security. Twenty-nine percent (29%) view his performance as poor in this area. The survey was conducted prior to the president’s speech on the war in Afghanistan Wednesday night.
The president received a bounce in national security ratings following the killing of Osama bin Laden in early May. While his ratings are down slightly since then, they remain near their highest levels since May 2009. Positive marks for Obama’s performance on national security fell to a low of 37% in late March. Over the past year prior to the bin Laden killing, those marks had mostly stayed in the high 30s to mid-40s. His poor marks hovered in the 30s and 40s during the same period.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 20-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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