President Obama’s approval rating reached an all-time low Wednesday as Americans continue to feel frustrated with the leaders in Washington weeks after the government shutdown ended.
Just 42% approve of how the president is handling current situations, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Slightly more than half—51%—disapprove of him. He received his highest approval rating—61%—in April 2009.
Several recent factors—including widespread problems with the implementation of the health care website, issues surrounding the IRS and National Security Agency, and the debate over Syria’s chemical weapons—have affected the public’s view of the president. Thirty-seven percent currently hold a “positive” view of Democrats.
But support for the Republican party also reached an all-time low.
“I don’t see things getting any better for either side coming out of the government shutdown,” host Joe Scarborough said Thursday on Morning Joe. “Any Republicans that think they’re getting a boost by the president’s problems can look at these polls and others and see it’s just not enough to be against their guy.”
President Obama visited Boston to defend Obamacare on Wednesday, the same day U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius testified about the health care law’s website glitches.
“What’s so stunning is the bottom keeps getting lower and lower,” Nicolle Wallace, former communications chief for the Bush administration, said on the show.
Thirty-seven percent of voters think the new health care law is a “good idea”; 47% think it is a “bad idea.” Additionally, 83% of people have heard about the problems users have experienced with HealthCare.gov since the government rolled out the website on Oct. 1.
The poll also found 70% of Americans believe the country is “off on the wrong track,” compared to earlier this year in January when 57% felt similarly. Only 30% of the country feels “generally optimistic” about its top leaders.
Less than half of the Americans polled want a Republican- or Democrat-controlled Congress after next year’s midterm elections. Forty-one percent want to see a Congress controlled by Republicans. Similarly, 45% want the government body to be ruled by Democrats.
Michele Richinick