Autumn Brings Falling Job Performance Ratings for President Obama

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tomorrow signals the official start of autumn, and leaves will soon start falling our nation's capital. They won't be alone though, as President Obama's ratings continue to fall. Only three in ten U.S. adults (30%) give the President positive ratings for the overall job he is doing, while 70% give him negative ratings. One could say that autumn came early to the White House, given that his ratings began to fall in summer. President Obama had his highest ratings for this year in May and June, when positive ratings sat at 38%. With July came an early fall, to 34%, continuing to 32% in August. The 30% of Americans now giving the President's overall job performance a positive rating is the lowest level seen thus far for this administration.

Looking by political leanings, the majority of Democrats (57%) give the President positive ratings. Meanwhile, over nine in ten Republicans (93%) give him negative marks; a quarter of Independents (25%) give the President positive ratings, while three-quarters (75%) give him negative ratings.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,543 adults surveyed online between September 10 and 17, 2014.  (Full results, including data tables, available here)

Direction of the country
Feelings on the direction of the country have also fallen. After a slight improvement last month to one-third of Americans (32%) saying things in the country were going in the right direction and two-thirds (68%) saying things had gotten off on the wrong track, September brings a drop. Just under three in ten (29%) now say things are going in the right direction, while just over seven in ten (71%) say things are going off on the wrong track. This puts the sentiment that things in the country are going in the right direction at their lowest level in nearly a year.

Economic ratings 
General sentiments on economic issues also show varying rates of decline. Similar to overall job performance ratings, 29% of Americans give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of the economy and 71% give him negative ratings. This sentiment is only slightly down from the past two months, when three in ten (30%) gave him positive ratings for his handling of the economy and seven in ten (70%) gave him negative marks. Nevertheless, this is the lowest the President's ratings in this area have been since January, when 28% of U.S. adults gave him positive marks on the economy.

Looking at expectations for what the next year might bring for our nation's economy, just over two in ten say they expect the economy to improve in the coming year (22%) while just under three in ten say that they expect it to get worse (29%); nearly half (49%) say it will stay the same. In August, one-fourth of Americans (25%) said the economy would improve in the coming year and 29% said it would get worse.

What about the situation closer to home? When asked about what they're expecting for their household financial condition in the near future, just over two in ten Americans (22%) say they expect it to be better in the next six months, while over half (53%) say it will remain the same and one-quarter (25%) believe it will be worse. In August, 24% said their household's financial condition would be better in the next six months while 25% said it would be worse.

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Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between September 10 and 17, 2014 among 2,543 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^® #87, September 22, 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