Obama’s Negative Ratings, and Those Who Think Country Is on the Wrong Track Continue to Rise

NEW YORK-(Business Wire)-September 17, 2009 - The latest Harris Poll brings more bad news for the White House. For the first time in his presidency, President Obama’s negative rating exceeds his positive score. And those who think that the country is on the wrong track have risen while those who think it is moving in the right direction have fallen.

Another finding is that health care is now viewed for the first time as the most important issue, more important than even the economy.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll^® of 2,334 adults surveyed online between September 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris Interactive^®.

Some of the key results of this Harris Poll include:

President Obama’s rating is now 49% positive, 51% negative, compared to 51% positive and 49% negative in August. While the month-on-month change is not statistically significant, the latest numbers are significantly worse than his ratings in all the other Harris Polls conducted since his inauguration. In May his ratings were 59% positive, 41% negative.
While Democrats still have overwhelmingly positive views of the president, and Republicans are overwhelmingly negative, a majority of Independents (by 54% to 46%) now give the president negative ratings. And 21% of Democrats give him negative marks.
The 58% to 42% majority which now thinks that the country is on the wrong track is more negative than the 54% to 46% majority who believed this in August. However, the new numbers on this question are virtually the same as they were in June and July.
When asked to name the two most important issues for the government to address, fully 55% now mention health care, which is well ahead of the economy (36%). In May when this question was last asked, the economy (45%) topped the list well ahead of health care (31%).
It is interesting to note the decline in those mentioning the economy from 64% last October to 59% in January, 50% in March and only 36% now. It seems that many people are not as frightened by the economic crisis now as they were 11 months ago and earlier this year.

How do President Obama’s ratings compare with previous presidents’ ratings after eight months in office?

The Harris Poll has been rating presidents regularly for more than 40 years since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House. President Obama’s positive rating of 49% is slightly, but only slightly, lower than those of most of his predecessors at this time in their presidencies. With the exception of President Johnson, who enjoyed a positive rating of 67% in September 1965, all the other presidents had positive ratings approximately eight months after they were inaugurated of between 48% (President Clinton in 1993) and 56% (George H.W. Bush in 1989).

So what?

The lower a president’s job rating, the more the opposition and the media tend to attack and criticize him, and it becomes harder for the president to rally his supporters or to twist arms in Congress. If President Obama’s ratings continue to slip, it will be harder for him to pass hotly contested legislation, and in particular, health care reform.

The Harris Poll^® #102
By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States September 8 and 15, 2009 among 2,334 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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