President Obama's Approval Ratings Almost Unchanged Post-Election

Just one-third of Americans believe country going in right direction

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Nov 23, 2010, 10:42 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- With the Congressional elections in his rear view mirror, President Obama looks ahead to working with a Republican House of Representatives with a positive job approval rating of 38% and a negative rating of 62%. This is not much different than where his ratings stood right before the election when 37% of Americans gave him positive ratings and 63% gave him negative marks for overall job he was doing.

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,151 adults surveyed online between November 8 and 15, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

It is not surprising that over nine in ten Republicans (93%) and 88% of Conservatives give the President negative ratings. But one-third of Democrats (33%) and three in ten Liberals (30%) also give him negative marks for his job performance. Among Independents, almost two-thirds (64%) give President Obama negative ratings as do six in ten (59%) Moderates.

Education and region show some differences in the President's approval rating. Those in the East are more likely than those in the South to give President Obama positive ratings (44% vs. 33%). Also, those with higher education are more likely to give the President positive marks on the overall job he is doing. Just three in ten Americans with a high school degree or less (30%) give the President positive marks, but that rises to 40% of those with some college education, 45% of those with a college degree and 56% of those with a post graduate degree.

Congress' approval ratings

While there may have been a change in control of Congress, there has not been much of a change in attitude towards them. Just over one in ten Americans (13%) give Congress positive marks for the overall job they are doing while 87% give them negative marks. Before the election, 11% gave them positive marks while 89% gave them negative ratings.

Direction of country and most important issue

When it comes to how things in the country are going, one-third of Americans (33%) say things are going in the right direction while two-thirds (67%) say they are going off on the wrong track. Again, this is not much changed from last month when 34% of U.S. adults said things were going in the right direction and 66% said they were going off on the wrong track.

One reason for the negativity may be that the same two items again top the list of the two most important issues for the government to address. Over one-third of Americans (36%) say government should address employment/jobs while one-third (33%) say they should address the economy. Three in ten (30%) say the most important issue is healthcare, while 10% say it is budget and government spending. Just under one in ten say the government needs to address immigration (8%) and the deficit/national debt (8%).

So What?

The 2010 Congressional elections proved to be historic and game changing. In January, a new Congress will be sworn in with record numbers of freshmen. But, for the American public this is still the same old, same old. This new Congress comes in with a mandate of sorts, and the voters will be watching closely to make sure attention is paid to the issues of importance to them – the economy and jobs. Until those two issues are seen as moving in a positive direction, the angry voters will continue to be angry.

TABLE 1 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING - TREND "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
	2009
	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	55	58	59	54	51	49	45	43	41
Excellent	17	18	17	14	11	11	10	9	7
Pretty good	38	40	42	39	39	38	35	33	33
NEGATIVE	45	42	41	46	49	51	55	57	59
Only fair	27	26	25	25	25	25	27	29	30
Poor	18	15	16	21	24	26	28	29	30


	2010
	Jan	Mar	April	May	June	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	40	41	41	42	39	40	38	37	38
Excellent	9	9	9	10	6	9	9	8	8
Pretty good	31	32	31	32	33	31	29	29	30
NEGATIVE	60	59	59	58	61	60	62	63	62
Only fair	30	28	26	28	29	26	28	30	29
Poor	30	31	33	30	32	34	34	33	33
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING – BY PARTY & IDEOLOGY "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
	Total	Political party			Political Philosophy
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.	Cons.	Mod.	Lib.
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	38	7	67	36	12	41	70
Excellent	8	1	19	3	3	8	17
Pretty good	30	6	48	32	9	33	53
NEGATIVE	62	93	33	64	88	59	30
Only fair	29	25	27	32	21	37	22
Poor	33	68	6	32	67	22	7
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; * indicates less than .5%

TABLE 3 PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING – BY REGION, EDUCATION & GENDER "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" Base: All adults
	Total	Region				Education				Gender
	Total	East	Midwest	South	West	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad	Post grad	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	38	44	39	33	39	30	40	45	56	35	41
Excellent	8	9	7	8	9	7	5	11	19	8	9
Pretty good	30	35	32	25	30	23	35	33	37	28	32
NEGATIVE	62	56	61	67	61	70	60	55	44	65	59
Only fair	29	30	28	27	31	35	25	24	22	27	31
Poor	33	26	33	40	29	35	35	31	22	38	28
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4 CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING "How would you rate the overall job Congress is doing?" Base: All adults
	Total	Political Party
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%
POSITIVE	13	5	23	8
Excellent	1	*	3	*
Pretty good	12	4	21	8
NEGATIVE	87	95	77	92
Only fair	39	27	49	39
Poor	48	69	28	53
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; * Indicates less than .05%

TABLE 5 CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING – TREND "How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing?" Base: All adults
	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2010	November	13	87
	October	11	89
	September	13	87
	August	15	85
	June	14	86
	May	15	85
	April	16	84
	March	10	90
	Jan.	16	84
2009	Dec.	17	83
	Oct.	16	84
	Sept.	19	81
	Aug.	22	78
	June	25	75
	March	29	71
2008	October	10	86
	August	18	77
	June	13	83
	February	20	76
2007	December	17	79
	October	20	77
	April	27	69
	February	33	62
2006	September	24	73
	May	18	80
	February	25	71
	January	25	72
Positive = excellent or pretty good. *Negative = only fair or poor. Note: Prior to March, 2009, this question was asked by telephone.

TABLE 6 RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK "Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?" Base: All adults
	TREND	Right Direction	Wrong Track
	TREND	%	%
2010	November	33	67
	October	34	66
	September	36	64
	August	35	65
	June	34	66
	April	39	61
	March	33	67
2009	December	37	63
	August	46	54
	January	19	72
2008	October	11	83
	February	23	69
2007	December	18	74
	February	29	62
2006	May	24	69
	February	32	59
2005	November	27	68
	January	46	48
2004	September	38	57
	June	35	59
2003	December	35	57
	June	44	51
2002	December	36	57
	June	46	48
2001	December	65	32
	June	43	52
2000	October	50	41
	June	40	51
1999	June	37	55
	March	47	45
1998	December	43	51
	June	48	44
1997	December	39	56
	April	36	55
1996	December	38	50
	June	29	64
1995	December	26	62
	June	24	65
1994	December	29	63
	June	28	65
1993	June	21	70
	March	39	50
1992	June	12	81
	January	20	75
1991	December	17	75
	January	58	32
Note: Prior to March, 2009 this question was asked via telephone

TABLE 7 MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE "What do you think are the two most important issues for the government to address?" Spontaneous, unprompted replies Base: All adults
	'97	'98	'99	'00	'01	'02	'03	'04	'05	'06	07	08	09	09	10	10	10	10	10
	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	June	Oct	Oct	Mar	Nov	Jan	Apr	June	Sept	Nov
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Employment/jobs	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	7	5	5	21	24	31	34	28	37	36
The economy (non-specific)	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	14	13	64	50	34	32	27	28	34	33
Healthcare (not Medicare)	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	12	25	22	25	47	45	34	23	24	30
Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	5	6	2	6	11	7	9	10	11	10
Immigration	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	20	12	3	4	5	5	7	12	10	8
Budget deficit/National debt	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	3	X	X	8	8	6	8
Taxes	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	4	3	6	4	4	4	7	4	7	7
Education	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	7	6	6	5	5	5	6	6	6	6
Social security	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	5	3	3	1	2	1	2	2	2	4
(The) war	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	24	14	9	9	2	6	6	4	4
Environment	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	3	3	2	3	4	3	3	7	3	2
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	4	4	*	1	2	2	1	1	2	2
Downsizing government	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	1	1	*	1	2	2	3	2	2	2
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	4	4	3	4	3	6	2	3	2	2
Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	2	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2
Medicare	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	1	3	2	*	*	*	*	*	*	2
Housing	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	*	1	2	2	6	1	1	1	1	2	1
Regulating banking/financial services	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	8	1	3	4	2	2	1
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
National security	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	2	5	2	1	4	3	2	2	1
Business accountability/bailouts	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	1
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	1	4	3	1	1	2	5	1	1
Obama/president	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1
Welfare	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	2	*	*	1	*	1	1	1	1
Military/defense	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	4	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Human/civil/women's rights	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	2	*	*	1	1	*	1	1	1
Religion (decline of)	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	8	2	1	1	1	*	1	*	1	1
Same sex rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	*	*	1	1	1	1	*	*	1
Iraq	*	*	1	X	X	11	3	9	6	8	14	7	2	4	2	2	2	*	1
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	2	3	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	1
Crime/violence	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	*
Afghanistan	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*
Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	2	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	*	*
Homelessness	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	3	*	*	1	1	*	*	1	*
Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	*
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	*	*	1	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Abortion	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	*	*	*	*
Family values (decline of)	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	*	*	X	*	*	x	*	*
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	2	*	*
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	2	*	*	*	*	1	*	*	*
Socialism agenda/country's socialism	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	1	*	*	*	*
Programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	*	*	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Drugs	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	3	*	1	*	*	1	*	*	*
Oil Spill in Gulf/BP oil spill	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	20	x	x
Other(1)	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	8	1	6	5	15	5	3	1	3	2	5	6
Not sure/refused/no issue	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	9	8	6	8	4	4	3	2	2	4	1	2
* = Less than 0.5%, X = Not mentioned as specific issue (1) Including prescription drug prices, credit problems, trade, disability, corporate scandals, right to bear arms, youth and government (other) Note: Prior to March, 2009, this question was asked via telephone

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between November 8 to 15, 2010 among 2,151 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, Harris Interactive 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 Interactive 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 the Harris Interactive 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 Harris Interactive.

J39117

Q1205, 1208, 1210, 1215

The Harris Poll® #145, November 23, 2010

By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll, Public Relations and Youth Research, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.