50% Give Obama Poor Marks On Economy
Friday, July 29, 2011

With the debate over the nation’s debt ceiling dragging on and consumer confidence near two-year lows, voters are souring even more on President Obama's handling of economic issues.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 36% of Likely U.S. Voters give the president good or excellent marks when it comes to the economy. But 50% say the president is doing a poor job, up seven points from 43% two weeks ago. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This ties the highest negative finding of Obama's presidency, last measured in October 2010. Positive ratings for the president in the economic area have remained in the 30s for the past several months.

The Political Class, however, thinks the president is doing just fine, with 60% who rate his economic performance as good or excellent. Sixty percent (60%) of Mainstream voters, by contrast, rate Obama's handling of the economy as poor.

As has been the case for months, the president earns better marks when it comes to national security. Forty-five percent (45%) rate the president's performance in this area as good or excellent, while just 28% view it as poor.

The president received a bounce in his national security ratings following the killing of Osama bin Laden in early May and those ratings have stabilized since. Over the past year prior to the bin Laden killing, positive 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 national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 26-27, 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.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats give the president good or excellent marks on the economy. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans give him a poor rating, as does a plurality (48%) of voters not affiliated with either major political party.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of investors rate the president's economic performance as poor, compared to 43% of non-investors. Union members (38%) are less inclined than non-members (51%) to view the president's handling of economic matters as poor.

While 74% of Democrats and a plurality (43%) of unaffiliated voters give the president positive marks in the national security area, 51% of GOP voters think his performance is poor.

Younger voters are more impressed with his handling of national security than those who are older.

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes show that confidence among both groups is at or near two-year lows.

These findings also come at a time when the housing market is devastated. For the past two months, fewer than half of all homeowners believe their home is worth more than the mortgage. Only 11% believe the value of their home will go up over the coming year, and just 43% believe that buying a home is the best investment a family can make. That latter figure is down from 73% in February 2009.

When it comes to the debt ceiling debate in Washington, voters continue to express unhappiness with both Democrats and Republicans.

A generic Republican candidate leads the president by six points again this week in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up. The GOP candidate has led in nine of 12 weekly surveys since early May.

When the Republican candidate is named, however, the contest is closer. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney runs essentially even with the president now. In April, Obama held a five-point edge over Romney.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... on_economy