The Wall Street Journal article can be found here. The MSNBC article can be found here.
The 30 page PDF of the actual poll can be found here.
MSNBC:
In the survey — which was conducted after Obama’s fourth visit to the Gulf last week, after his Oval Office address on the spill, and after getting BP to agree to a $20 billion escrow account to help pay for relief — 50 percent say they disapprove of Obama’s handling of the spill, while 42 percent approve.
Since news is now hitting that Obama is refusing to arrange more skimmers for Florida, saying the additional ones "might" be needed for an oil spill (get the irony there?), his officials stopping Louisiana from dredging to protect their coast, the barges with vacuums that were sitting idle while his officials checked for life vests and the public outcry from state officials claiming they are getting no assistance but are, in fact, being hindered at every turn by the Obama administration, as they attempt to minimize the damage to their coasts, we can expect these numbers for Obama to lower even more.
Ok, before I start to go off on an "optics" rant, lets get back to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll and save the rant for the next post.
WSJ highlights:
---Sixty-two percent of adults in the survey feel the country is on the wrong track
---Just one-third think the economy will get better over the next year, a 7-point drop from a month ago and the low point of Mr. Obama's tenure.
---more people disapprove of Mr. Obama's job performance than approve
---57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years
---Support Obama and his party is declining among centrist, independent voters, Democrats, Hispanics, seniors, small-town residents and women.
---Just 40% rate him positively on his "ability to handle a crisis," an 11-point drop since January. Half disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the oil spill, including one in four Democrats
---45% said they wanted to see a Republican-controlled Congress after November, compared to 43% who wanted Democratic control. But even more telling is the excitement gap between the core voters of each party
Just 44% of Obama voters—those who voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 or told pollsters they intended to—now express high interest in the midterm elections. That's a 38-point drop from this stage in the 2008 campaign.
By contrast, 71% of voters who supported Republican John McCain in 2008 expressed high interest in this year's elections, slightly higher than their interest level at this stage in that campaign.
Those are just the highlights, you can see the questions and answers, percentages and demographics in the 30 page PDF for yourself.
[Update] Part Two of this, dealing with the "optics" of Obama vs state officials begging him for help, in the next post, found here.
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