Raleigh, N.C. – Voter disapproval of President Obama’s job performance has reached 55 percent, the highest in his two years as President, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
According to the poll of 600 likely voters, 55 percent said they disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as President of the United States. Forty-two percent of voters said they approve, and three percent said they did not know.
Additionally, disapproval for Obama’s job performance among Republicans stands at an 84 percent-14 percent margin. Unaffiliated voters have a similar opinion as 70 percent disapprove of the job Obama is doing while 28 percent said they approve. A majority of Democratic voters approve of Obama’s job performance by a 68 percent-28 percent margin.
“The worst time possible for a President to be hitting rock-bottom in approval ratings is right before an election. Unfortunately for Obama and members of his party, this is exactly what’s happening,” said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes. “Unaffiliated voters, who turned out heavily for Obama in 2008, now resemble Republicans in their disapproval of his job performance.”
North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue also experienced an increase in voters viewing her unfavorably. Those with an unfavorable opinion of Perdue outnumber those with a favorable opinion by a 45 percent-38 percent margin, an eight percent increase from June and the second highest percentage since Perdue was elected Governor. Thirteen percent of voters said they have heard of Perdue but have no opinion, and four percent said they have never heard of her.
Looking at party affiliation, Perdue’s favorability margin is 59 percent unfavorable-27 percent unfavorable among Republican voters. Unaffiliated voters hold a similar opinion as 59 percent view her unfavorably while 25 percent have a favorable opinion. Perdue’s margin of favorability among Democratic voters is 51 percent-30 percent.
“Perdue remains largely unfavorable to voters across the state,” added Hayes. “What’s even more surprising is that just over half of her base Democratic voters view her favorably, a dramatic decrease from when she took office.”
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full Text of Questions:
“Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as President of the United States?”
Total Approve – 42%
Total Disapprove – 55%
Strongly Approve – 26%
Somewhat Approve – 16%
Somewhat Disapprove – 14%
Strongly Disapprove – 42%
Undecided/Don’t Know – 3%
“Now I am going to read you a list of people active in politics. After I read each name, please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that person. If you never heard of them, just tell me and we’ll go to the next one: Bev Perdue.”
Favorable – 38%
Unfavorable – 45%
Heard of/No Opinion – 13%
Never Heard Of – 4%
For full results and crosstabs from the poll, click here.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted September 15-17, 2010 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008. An additional screening question was asked to filter only those voters having some likelihood to vote in the upcoming 2010 election.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +/- 4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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