Poll: 81% say Obama economic policies not working
Washington Examiner September 6, 2011 | Byron York
There's a lot of terrible news for President Obama in new polls by the Washington Post-ABC News and the Wall Street Journal-NBC News. The number of Americans who say the country is on the wrong track has risen to its highest level since just before Obama took office -- into what one commentator calls the "incumbent death zone." His job approval rating is down. The number of people who disapprove of his handling of the economy is rocketing upward. And then there is this question, asked by the Post-ABC:
Do you think Obama's economic program is making the economy better, making it worse, or having no real effect?
Just 17 percent say the president's program is making the economy better, while 34 percent say Obama's program is making the economy worse and 47 percent say it is having no real effect. Combine those last two numbers, and 81 percent say the Obama economic program is not working -- a devastating number in a country in which economic concerns top all other issues in voters' minds.
As far as the traditional right-track/wrong-track question is concerned, 77 percent of those surveyed by the Post-ABC say the country is on the wrong track, while just 20 percent say it is on the right track. The last time that number was so high in the Post-ABC poll was January 16, 2009, on the eve of Obama's inauguration, when 78 percent of those surveyed said the country was on the wrong track. If Obama does not reverse the trend in the wrong-track number, it could approach the levels it reached in the last months of the George W. Bush administration, when it topped 80 percent.
As for opinion on how Obama is handling the economy, 62 percent disapprove of his job performance on economic issues in the new Post-ABC poll, while just 36 percent approve. In the Journal-NBC poll, those numbers are 59 percent disapproval versus 37 percent approval. Finally, on the question of general job approval, Obama is down to 43 percent approval in the Post-ABC poll and 44 percent in the Journal-NBC poll. His disapproval ratings are 53 percent and 51 percent, respectively.
All that adds up to a president in major trouble as he faces re-election next year.
