If there is one thing a sitting President never wants to see it is his approval ratings down while he is trying to get reelected and his disapproval ratings rising as fast as gas prices are. In a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll, majorities either "somewhat" or "strongly" disapprove of Obama's job performance on gas prices (65%), the federal budget deficit (62%), the economy (59%), and the possibility of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons (52%).Pluralities disapprove of Obama's performance on Energy and Afghanistan as well.
Obama's overall approval is at 46% with just 28 percent "strongly" approving and 18% "somewhat" approving and his disapproval numbers for his overall job performance show 50 disapproving with 39% "strongly" disapproving and 11% "somewhat" disapproving.
While the Washington Post article written about their poll states "Gas prices are a main culprit," four out the six key issues asked about in the poll had clear majorities disapproving of Obama's job performance and two pluralities disapproving. Not a single issue is Obama's approval higher than his disapproval which is indicative of more than just one single issue dragging him down. So stating that gas prices is the "main" culprit instead of just one aspect of the big picture is slightly misleading.
Gas prices do show the highest level of disapproval though, so Obama's recently reported lobbying of Senate Democrats so they would kill a bill that including approval for Keystone, which the majority of Republicans (84%) and Independents (66%), including a plurality of Democrats (49%), are in favor of, does not bode well for Obama who is once again taking a stance that is polar opposite of what Americans want. (Source- Pew Research, via The Hill)
Despite Obama's lobbying efforts to Democrats to reject the bill, 11 Democratic Senators joined with all Republican Senators but failing to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster from Democrats. The vote was 56 to 42 according to the Senate roll call.
[Update] NRO shows the breakdown of respondent's ideology:
The sample for this poll splits 31 percent Democrat, 27 percent Republican, 36 percent Independent.
So, even asking more Democrats than Republicans, Obama's disapproval rating is so high in key areas and 50% overall.
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