Obama's poll numbers drop

7/10/2009

Is President Obama's honeymoon with the American public nearing an end?

A second poll out this week shows a noticeable drop in public confidence in the president, six months into his term. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released today put his overall job approval rating at 61 percent -- and on a steady decline from 76 percent in February.

As telling, 70 percent of respondents believe Obama is "a strong and decisive leader," down from 80 percent in February; 56 percent think he generally agrees with them on issues they care about, down from 63 percent five months ago; and only 53 percent said he has a "clear plan" for solving the nation's problems, down from 64 percent.

While 79 percent approve of Obama personally, a smaller subset -- 58 percent -- approve both him personally and his job performance, and 19 percent like him personally but not his job performance.

The poll, conducted June 26-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. A poll in the bellwether state of Ohio also found decreasing confidence in Obama and his economic proposals.

Obama's decline largely tracks the economy, which remains mired in recession. New numbers out today showed that laid-off workers are having trouble finding jobs -- continuing claims for unemployment benefits jumped by 159,000 last week, reaching 6.88 million, the highest in records dating from 1967.

As dissatisfaction grows with the $787 billion economic stimulus plan and Obama is on his foreign trip, the White House is dispatching Vice President Joe Biden today to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Saratoga County, New York, to cheerlead for the stimulus.

Biden spoke in front of the American Can Building, an abandoned factory being turned into a mixed-use development with stimulus money, and announced approval of Cincinnati's plan to use a $3.5 million federal grant to revive neighborhoods and fix up affordable housing and public facilities.

Overall, $4.4 billion in stimulus money has been targeted for Ohio, including $2 billion for education, $1 billion for health care, and $445 million for transportation.

“Roads plus teachers plus cops plus jobs equals a community — and that equals paychecks and prosperity,” Biden said. “In other words, it equals a better future right here in Southwest Ohio.”

Later, at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y., Biden announced that the Labor Department has authorized $275 million in additional jobless benefits for New York, making it easier for unemployed workers seeking part-time work and those unemployed for family reasons to be eligible for benefits

So far, New York is in line to get $16 billion, including $2 billion for education and $700 million for transportation.

“I see it everywhere we go: communities being rebuilt, factories being reopened, workers rehired — teachers in their classrooms, cops on the streets, families better able to live a quality life,” Biden said. “With the Recovery Act, Saratoga County and America are reclaiming our proud past — and, while we’re at it, creating a better future.”

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 Republican in the House, kept up the critique of the stimulus and adamantly opposed the idea of a second stimulus package.

"Clearly, we’re at the point now about five months after the passage of the spending bill that the administration is realizing that it’s not working," he said on Fox News Channel, one of a series of TV interviews he did today. "That frankly the stimulative effects that were intended have not come to fruition. And in fact, promises were made that we wouldn’t go over 8.5% unemployment. We know millions of people are losing their jobs. We’re inching toward 10% unemployment. So now’s not the time to start saying, ‘Hey, we need more of the same,’ because we know it didn’t work."