President Obama’s average job approval drops more than three points, a new poll reveals.
During his 19th quarter in office Obama’s approval rating declined to 44.5% according to a new Gallup poll. It is not his lowest quarterly average but the President is on a downward trend.
“Obama is suffering through another approval slump,” Gallup reported. “After a relatively strong fourth year that included several quarters of higher ratings that aided his re-election, his approval rating has now declined in each of the last three quarters.”
Over the course of the past few months President Obama has been scrutinized by the public. Most recently, his approval fell to 41% during the 16-day government shutdown.
Only three post-WWII presidents, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, and Bill Clinton, did not see a decline in their 19th quarter averages, and all of their approval ratings were near 60%.
“Like Obama, Bush saw his approval rating drop during his 19th quarter, which was marked by criticism of his administration’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina rescue and recovery effort,” Gallup reported. “A decline in approval from the 19th to 20th quarter has been the norm for presidents; only Reagan and Clinton did not see at least slight declines in their 20th quarter, and only Reagan’s rating notably improved.”
Abby Borovitz