NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Autumn is in full swing, with Halloween just days away. But as temperatures drop, October finds some things on the rise – among them President Obama's job performance ratings. Slightly over one-third of U.S. adults (34%) give the President positive ratings for the overall job he is doing, while two-thirds (66%) give him negative ratings. This puts President Obama's positive ratings at their highest level since July, up four points from 30% last month.
Looking along political lines, two-thirds of Democrats (67%) give the President positive ratings, while 95% of Republicans give him negative marks. Just under a fourth of Independents (23%) give the President positive ratings, while just over three-fourths (77%) rate him negatively.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,205 adults surveyed online between October 15 and 20, 2014. (Full results of this study, including data tables, can be found here)
Similar to overall job performance ratings, positive ratings for President Obama's handling of the economy are also up, with a third of Americans (33%) giving him positive ratings and two-thirds (67%) assigning negative marks. These sentiments represent an improvement over last month, when just under three in ten (29%) gave him positive ratings for his handling of the economy and just over seven in ten (71%) gave him negative marks. These are the highest ratings for the president's job performance in regards to the economy since May, when 35% of U.S. adults gave him positive marks on the economy.
Direction of the country
Feelings on the direction of the country have also improved, albeit slightly. After hitting its lowest point of 2014 last month, with just under three in ten Americans (29%) saying things in the country were going in the right direction and just over seven in ten (71%) saying things had gone off on the wrong track, October brings a minor rebound. Just over three in ten (31%) Americans now say things are going in the right direction, while just under seven in ten (69%) say things are going off on the wrong track.
Economic ratings
Expectations for the economy have improved as well, with just over a fourth of Americans saying they expect the economy to improve in the coming year (26%); fewer than three in ten say that they expect it to get worse (29%), while 45% say it will stay the same. In September, 22% said the economy would improve in the coming year and 29% said it would get worse, while 49% anticipated it remaining the same.
Despite improved sentiments on many fronts this month, these hopeful attitudes have not carried over to Americans' views on financial conditions closer to home. When asked about their expectations regarding their household's financial condition in the next six months, just over two in ten Americans (21%) say they expect it to be better; over half (53%) say it will remain the same, while just over one-quarter (26%) believe it will be worse. These results show little change from September, when 22% of U.S. adults said their household's financial condition would be better in the next six months, while 25% said it would be worse and 53% still said it would remain the same.
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Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online, in English, within the United States between October 15 and 20, 2014 among 2,205 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, The Harris Poll avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in our panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of The Harris Poll.
The Harris Poll® #97, October 27, 2014
By Larry Shannon-Missal, Managing Director, The Harris Poll
About The Harris Poll®
Begun in 1963, The Harris Poll is one of the longest running surveys measuring public opinion in the U.S. and is highly regarded throughout the world. The nationally representative polls, conducted primarily online, measure the knowledge, opinions, behaviors and motivations of the general public. New and trended polls on a wide variety of subjects including politics, the economy, healthcare, foreign affairs, science and technology, sports and entertainment, and lifestyles are published weekly. For more information, or to see other recent polls, visit the Harris Poll News Room.
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SOURCE The Harris Poll
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