Fewer Say Nation Headed in Wrong Direction
UTICA, NY - President Barack Obama's job approval rating has bounced back to 43% after tying an all-time low of 39% in early December. Also increasing over that time are the number of voters who approve of the performance of Congress and the number that believe the nation is headed in the right direction. These changes were caused primarily by positive movement among Democratic voters.
The Dec. 30, 2010 - Jan. 3, 2011 interactive poll of likely voters shows Obama's job approval among Democrats at 86%, compared to 73% on Dec. 10. However, approval among independents continued to slip to 32%. On Dec. 14, 36% of independents approved of the President's job performance, and on Nov. 22 that number was 39%. Approval from Republicans is again 7%.
Overall, do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama's job as president?
|
Obama Job Performance |
Jan. |
Dec. |
Dec. |
Nov. |
Nov. |
Nov. |
Nov. |
Oct. |
Oct. |
Oct. |
Oct. |
Oct. |
|
Approve |
43% |
39% |
42% |
39% |
42% |
42% |
45% |
43% |
47% |
46% |
44% |
49% |
|
Disapprove |
56% |
61% |
58% |
60% |
58% |
57% |
54% |
56% |
53% |
54% |
56% |
51% |
|
Not sure |
1% |
<1% |
<1% |
1% |
<1% |
1% |
<1% |
<1% |
<1% |
<1% |
<1% |
<1% |
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding
The pollfound an increase in those saying the nation is heading in the right direction, from 22% on Dec. 10, 2010 to 29% now, while those saying we are headed in the wrong direction fell from 68% to 60%. Among Democrats, the number choosing right direction increased from 48% to 62%. There was also an uptick among independents choosing right direction, from 14% to 19%.
On Dec. 10, approval of the job performance of Congress was 12%, and it is now 21%. Among Democrats, approval increased from 23% to 44%. Overall approval of Democrats in Congress went up from 27% to 32%, and approval of their Republican colleagues fell slightly from 28% to 25%.
Pollster John Zogby: "Democratic voters are pleased with both the President and Congress for their success at the close of the 2010 session. However, independents apparently still need to be convinced. Now, with Republicans running the House, it's a whole new ballgame."
The interactive poll of 2,073 likely voters has a margin of error of +/-2.2%. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the U.S., was invited to participate. Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the population.