One month in, Barack Obama's approval slips, disapproval doubles

One month down, 47 to go.

And Barack Obama's poll numbers have slid almost 10% already. According to the latest Gallup Poll, the new president's approval rating of 68% in January has slipped now to 63%, about average for recent new presidents one month in.

What isn't average, however, is Obama's new disapproval rating -- 24%, or 50% higher than the 16% average for a month-old new presidency.

And it's twice the 12% disapproval rate that Obama had last month.

While liberal and independent support has held fairly steady, the rookie chief executive's approval among Republicans has plunged from 41% to 30%, presumably tied at least somewhat to growing awareness of the spending program. The drop has been especially steep among conservatives, from 36% at inauguration to 22% now.

Additionally, Obama's support has weakened among middle-class Americans, those touted during the campaign as benefiting from his promised tax cuts. Among that working crowd, Obama's approval fell from 69% to 58%.

Tonight's speech before a joint session of Congress and a nationwide television audience will give the new 47-year-old president an opportunity to make his case, not just for his already-signed but still controversial economic stimulus package but for his own evolving style of executive leadership.

And to possibly put the crumpled Cabinet nominations of recent weeks behind him.

Historically, 63-62% approval after a month is about average; Ronald Reagan had the worst at 55%, and Jimmy Carter had the best at 71%. Look how they turned out.

In fact, after 30 days, the Gallup Poll shows Obama has about the same approval rating as did George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, the man whose eight years in office the Illinois senator so often denounced as destructive during the recent campaign.

What's surprising, as the astute Don Surber points out this morning, is that the gap between approval and disapproval is worse now for Obama than it was for the newly departed Texan after his first month. Bush's differential gap was 41 points between approval and disapproval. Obama's is 39 points, still above Bill Clinton, who had the worst differential of 30 points. Carter again had the best after one month of 62. Richard Nixon had 54.

The new Gallup survey involved 1,614 adult Americans between Feb. 19-21 with a margin of error of +/-3%.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo (top): A shooting star. Credit: Getty Images

Photo (bottom): Associated Press

Comments

[mike obermeyer]

You can not spend & tax your way out of the recession.

[m]

Most wasted use of virtual space. I hope the latimes didn't actually put this article in print. 68% - 63% does not equal 'almost 10%' I don't care what kind of special math you are trying to use. You can't utilize the +/- 3%margin of error to validate your statement and then ignore what it maybe saying on the other end. The difference is 5%, plus 3% equals 8% (that's really grasping at almost 10%) BUT ON THE FLIP SIDE 5%, minus 3% = 2%, way, way, way far away from 10%. IN ADDITION (pun intended) when does 1614 people represent the 300 million or so OTHER people in the united states. Really? This made it past the editor?

[SonofSmog]

Buyer's remorse.

[Phil D]

The opposition is run by professional Republican nay sayers who have control of Fox News and other media. They fail to mention the bankruptcy of Bush and the death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan which has ruined our public image and our finances. These irresponsible criminals need to be tried and imprisoned for their misdeeds instead of being allowed to sabotage this new administration that won an overwhelming victory last year. When you hear the critics identify who they are and their role in our presenet conditon.

[Claudia]

This is very sad that his numbers are going down. What's wrong with the Americans. This is a huge country with the biggest economy in the world. Of course it takes a huge amount of money to get it back on track. To me, it's all a Republican conspiracy. It does not take much for the Americans to believe in anything. In one month in office he has accomplished more than any President accomplished in one term. America is in a serious financial situation right now and they have to be patient but if they listen to Rush Limbaugh who wishes Obama to fail, well ..... How would American feel if it would have been McCain/Palin in place.
Give him a chance!

[Jose Pistolas]

Let's all be rational about this. By a review of the literature pertaining tho these gallup polls, the entire ramifications and future results are never presented.Taking a new vocabulary term just being inserted next year, all the so called "haters" (i.e. republicans) will just use these temporary figures to paint a slandered picture of our new leader. Republicans (i.e. "haters") should look at GWB Jr's final approval/disapproval ratings and go back to the bench where you belong. Give this man an opportunity to paint the white house black before you put these comments out there! The Black south shall rise again, and we are gonna pay you all back for what you did to us, native americans, Japanese, people of color.Get ready for the "Operation: Rainbow" Manifesto which will circulate soon.

[R MacDonald]

With the amount of conservative carping over the last month, I can't say I'm surprised. The fact is, that the right has a vested intrest in seeing President Obama do poorly. The right has already demonstrated they will be obstructionist, no matter the cost to America at large; all the while shouting country first. These people say they love America, but they obviously loathe Americans. It's just more of the GOP big lie politics.

[Tim Claiborne]

As we see once again in politics, you CAN get elected with smoke and mirrors, but you CAN'T govern that way. "Hope" and "change" are not policies and it is becoming painfully obvious that this guy has no clue what he is doing. Bush got him elected and now he is returning the favor by making Bush look not nearly as bad as he looked 1 month ago

[bill]

marxist socialist the most liberal senator in the country with no experience at running anything. America is so dumbed down it is frightening. there are dire ramifications the american people are going to have to deal with while this marxist alinsky wright ayers product is running a country he hates

[Obama no messiah/koolaid will sour.]

The Messiah will not hold. The koolaid will sour. He is mortal and will do his best. Most who backed him will do so as self seving regardless of what he does. The other 45=% of us who did not vote for him-hoe he slants things back are way in a few years-but at the same time want the us and us to all be better off.
the economy is one thing-his inexpereince and biden's lackluster 30+ years running a tiny state and the same old govt strategies-will not accomplish much. Hillary-like a soap opera. Overall way ot liberal and socialistic. we need ot fight against this and preserve the core of the USa/,The GOP is constructively trying to do that.

[Obamanation ongoing]

to the bozo above --this "sample" size used with probability theories is valid-you have no clue due!

[Chelsea]

Republicans need to get over it. He's the president. Either get with the program or resign. They are only opposed because of either skin color or his stimulus package is going to keep money out of their pockets. Everyone who is smart knows that the GOP is all about how to keep the wealthy wealthy and how to keep middle and lower class families to pay for their mansions, cars, yachts, and whatever. Hello, middle class Americans are the majority of this country! President Obama is trying to help people like myself, a single mother, from going bankrupt just trying to keep up with everyday expenses. Which DO NOT include TVs, rims, clothes, or whatever certain types of people think. This "recession" is not affecting members of the GOP which is why they are against everything President Obama stands for. For those of us who are trying to stay afloat and the others who are comfortable and want to stay that way, need to put their trust in President Obama and know that he is trying to do the right thing.

[abdulH]

PURE INSANITY! IN THESE DIRE TIMES, "WE" AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NEED TO EMPOWER, RALLY, SHOW PASSION AND COMPASSION, ENTHUSIASM, AND HOPE ALONG SIDE OUR PRESIDENT(OBAMA). WE NEED SOLUTIONS, NOT BICKERING ON WHO IS POPULAR AND WHOS NOT. WE GIVE PEOPLE A CHANCE, HELP THEM AND NOT CRITICIZE AND ABUSE THEM. WE NEED TO PUT OUR DIFFERENCES ASIDE AND UNITE AS ONE. THAT IS THE POWER OF WORLD COMMUNITY AND LEADERSHIP.

[Bill Aubin]

As long as the 'One" has his teleprompter, he will lead us!!

[Olga]

YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!!!

[nickio]

Things will get worse before they get better. People are looking for a fix now, and that is not how it works..

[abdul]

*IN THESE DIRE TIMES "WE" AS CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NEED TO EMPOWER, ENERGIZE, SHOW PASSION AND COMPASSION, ENTHUSIASM, CONVICTION ALONG SIDE OUR PRESIDENT (OBAMA) WE NEED TO GIVE HIM AND OTHERS A CHANCE. WE NEED TO STOP THE BICKERING AND WHOS POPULAR AND NOT. WE MUST UNITE AS ONE TO BE AN EXAMPLE TO SHOW LEADERSHIP IN THE WORLD DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES. WE NEED TO PRACTICE THESE NOT TALK ABOUT THEM.

[Ashley B]

See, here's what bothers me. You can't expect things to change over night. Plain and simple. Instead of focusing on the rates at which his popularity rises and declines(which mind you are not declining by 10%, you uneducated journalists, who apparently don't understand basic addition and subtraction), how about we actually pay attention to things that are worth our time. Like, maybe the fact that whole reason we've had such a drastic change in our economy and power is because people are more susceptable to change when in times of crisis and the usual traditional values are not helping. Seriously, do your history.

Our whole Iraqi war can be compared to Napoleon when he was invading Italy. Macciavellian's "The Prince" is where it all came from boys. Read it and weep.

[Luke]

You can't really so unknowledgable about math and polls. To get a change in percentage, you subtract and then divide by the original percentage. (68%-63%)/68% = 7.35%, which I agree is short of 10%, but it's not 5%. If something that costs $50 gets reduced to $40, it's a reduction of 20%, not 10%. Also, this is a poll done by Gallup, one of the premier polling organizations, which is fairly objective and if anything may be slightly left of center. Polls always use a representative sample of the population, which through statiscal analysis demonstrates an accuracy of a certain +/- %. You can't ask millions of people every time you want to poll them. This is a proven mathematical process of approximating a population's answer to a question. But if you thought the difference was 5%, then you would certainly be greatly challenged to even begin to understand the rest of this.

[Jenny Hanniver]

Who cares what Republicans and NeoCon(federate)s think? I'm grateful that you're out of there, and, in fact, this survey sounds suspiciously like another of your cooked-up NeoCon lies.

Go home, you old fat foolish has-beens, and let a caring, responsible and dynamic young president lead the way into a better future.

[Larry Benjamin]

Dear LA Times:
You have been given a great tip on how to cut costs - Eliminate useless articles with shaky math that damage the credibility of your paper and organization.

Is that a contract buyout / early retirement that I smell?

[ARH]

Claudia and Phil D...showing the depths of your ignorance.

[Bruce Martin]

A useless poll is meaningless. No man ever did more damage to this country than GWBush and his bunch of henchmen, except his father, who led us into near depression in '87 - 91.
More Bushes in the White House? Are we all crazy? Give a Harvard educated man who actually took his exams a chance (vs. Bush, who paid cronies to take them - documented).
And that sleaze-ball Cheney and his secret government within a government - like to take a hunting trip with me?
PS - Rush Limbaugh is nothing more than an entertainer. Any views he might espouse are nothing more than that - supposed entertainment. As a lifelong REPUBLICAN voter (42 years) and contributor to the party, my dollars and votes have gone to the best man for the job this time around.
Give the man a chance - this is still the greatest country on earth.

[Edward Harold]

All this guy did was report the results of a survey! The man just pointed out that Obama's approval ratings according to a statistical sampling are down. These kind of statistics are meaningless anyway - which seems to be the obvious conclusion of the article.

Obama is not in fact a Black president. He is half white and largely raised in a white family. So why are you freaking out and talking about revenge on "Old Whitey"? Obama would deplor your hate spewing - He stands for unity and the future not old grudges from the past.

[larry]

as a government employee of 25yrs, i am glad i have only 5yrs more to watch people sit around and pull down salaries approaching 60 to 80K doing nothing but carrying around a cup of taxpayer funded coffee all day and complaining about payraises. if the taxpayer had any idea how little these people actually do, there would probably be major rebellions. daily i see a long column of cars comming through the gates at 8:30, which is 30minutes after reporting time. and another long column of cars leaving the gates 30minutes before quitting time. its truely disgusting. there is no one that i can see doing anthing to change this. god help us.

[Carmilla]

Why is a portion of America looking for President Obama to "FIX" what it wouldn't stop Bush from doing throughout the eight (8) years of his term? Let's allow reality to kick in. Babies are given a time to learn to walk; school students are given a time to learn how to read and then learn to read with understanding. I would think the President should at least be given more than 30 days to fix anything that relates to the economy and anything else. I am just as frustrated with the economy, unemployment rate, and home foreclosures as anyone. But, Please, at LEAST give him a chance. My Goodness!

Carmilla

[kat]

Please send us breaking news.
Thanks km

[Scott Bolli]

Republicans brought us here. Republicans will do anything but aid us in moving forward from here. If it will help, they have to block it. If it still fails, they'll point out that they opposed it - if it works, no one will remember that they were against it.

[Renee Larsen]

Math is not a strong suit in this country. If it were, we would not be in this mess. Be that as it may, just wondering what work is getting done while King Obama is on television? Maybe he missed that he was voted President and not a Golden Globe?

[thomas scott harmeling]

We average American working class people, who be they republican or democrat, see that neither side is totally correct, and that we and our children,grandchildren,great grandchildren, will be the ones who suffer ,and have to deal with this debt, the saddest part of all this is that no matter who I talk to all agree that the biggest easiest thing that would help our economy more than anything else would be to have an flat tax (as in you set the #% and that's it period every one pays the same % and no one gets any back, and no one gets out of it .) this alone would solve the debt in a few years and get rid of a huge amount of red tape its just so simple that the whole lot of our elected officials cant see the forest for the tree's we as citizens need to have real representation in our government common average joe's and jane's from the working class in the white house, senate or congress one, to keep a watch out over the fat cat's we elected .

[Michael B.]

Hey Mike O., I think you just eclipsed this articles so called "Most wasted use of virtual space" with your own post. Way to go!:)...LOL

If the article showed Obamas approval rating had supposedly gone up "10 percent"...I don't believe you would've taken such offense to this particular poll. Of course, I could be wrong and you just simply care about mathematical "integrity"... moreso than that associated with our Presidents (like most who voted for this man).

[Mike B.]

Hey Claudia...thanks for providing a prime example of what I was referring to in my last sentence above.

[thomas scott harmeling]

We average American working class people, who be they republican or democrat, see that neither side is totally correct and that we and our children,grandchildren,great grandchildren, will be the ones who suffer ,and have to deal with this debt, the saddest part of all this is that no matter who I talk to all agree that the biggest easiest thing that would help our economy more than anything else would be to have an flat tax (as in you set the #% and that's it period every one pays the same % and no one gets any back, and no one gets out of it .) this alone would solve the debt in a few years and get rid of a huge amount of red tape its just so simple that the whole lot of our elected officials cant see the forest for the tree's we as citizens need to have real representation in our government common average joe's and jane's from the working class in the white house, senate or congress one to keep a watch out over the fat cat's we elected .

[usaeasy77]

as a government employee of 27yrs, i am wondering if this president is going to do anything about the coffee carrying do nothing people who make up about 75% of the government workforce. these people come to work 30 min late and leave 30 min early. their coffee breaks are 30min long and the 30min lunch is about 1hour. they all make GREAT pay and work very little for it. most are dummer than a bag of hammers, and complain you are passing over them for promotion due to their ethnicity, not because they can't type their names. those of you who are slightly above poverty line, and your kids have to do without shoes so you can pay the salaries of these slobs, you have my empathy and respect.

[Michael B.]

Sorry Mike O. and Claudia....My posts were meant to be directed towards "M" and "Jose" respectively.

I apologze for the mix-up there.:)

I actually agree wholeheartedly with Mike O's post!:)

And to "Phil D."...when speaking of "criminals"...I am sure one can't forget all those who are so closely tied to our current President. Let's not forget about his nominees who don't even pay their taxes for goodness sake (last I heard that is indeed a crime).

Not too mention...his other infamous personal associations the Liberal media went out of their way to coverup.

[Renee Larsen]

I might add that all of you Republican bashers need to remember one teeny tiny detaIL. Democrats have had the majority in congress for the last four years. I suppose we could blame old impotent George? After all, he probably would have put those darn democrats in Jail for standing up to him. And while you brainless wonders follow the pied piper to Hamilin; know this: the stimulus you received was to your taxes alone. If you do not buy a new car this year, or a house..those deals are meaningless to you. Since you probably do not have a job....or your job is on the line..you will not buy a house and you will not buy a car. You will get 13 extra bucks a pay check to spend at Walmart this year. Next year and the year after, it will likely cost you 26 bucks a check to pay it back and the term is the rest of your life. Taking tax breaks away from the rich will not enrich you dim bulbs. What it will do is cause the rich to stop spending their money in our market..they will stop creating jobs .Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest not in the USA. The only one that will end up better off in 4 years is Mr. Obama. So, good luck throwing money at companies who robbed you blind. By all means, support the retards that put us here. I for one, applaud massive stupidity corrected by even bigger stupidity.

[Larry Robinson]

The parts of the stimulus that give money to governments or special interests will not expand the economy. Expansion requires both a payment to a worker and a PRODUCT for sale that is useful to further expanding the economy. Most government projects (excepting roads and education), and such things as the arts, sports, recreation, and entertainment do not expand the economy.

[John]

Perhaps some of the people in this once great nation have finally woken up from their nap and realized our new commander in cheif is still just a community organizer?

[Warren]

I'm tired of the GOP talking. I'm tired of the awful 8 years the GOP has put Americans through. I can't believe the GOP can't see what has happened. I don't think President Obama's approval or disaproval has changed any, if at all. The President has only been in there for a month, a month, come on now. It's ONLY A MONTH. The President is not only trying, he's doing. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, I like the sound of that....

[Ternell]

Honestly, If there is somebody who thinks they can handle the nation's worst economic crisis that a former Republican did, then be my guest. Leave Obama alone! He is doing all that he can to try to pull us out. He told us its not going to be easy. I am sticking by my president and my vote for change!!!

[Jr]

2012 cant come soon enough. BO - get the stink out.

[weapon2277]

How anyone could approve of this man is beyond me. He has committed taxpayer money to fund abortions, and I don't care if you are pro-choice, abortions should not be funded by our taxes! Then he pushes this massive spending bill, calls it stimulus, but it's so chalk full of pork that it's ridiculous! Our kids and grandkids will be stuck paying for it. He introduces a plan to help with forclosures that does nothing other than encourage and enable irresponsbile choices. He spends thousands and thousands of dollars to keep his records sealed, including college admissions records which may reveal that he enrolled as a foreign student, and passport records from the time he traveled to Pakistan when you couldn't get in on an American passport. He has appointed more tax evaders to his cabinet than you can shake a stick at. He is moving us toward socialism (read the stimulus bill for details) at an alarming rate. I was no fan of Bush, but holy crap! This guy is truly unbelieveable, and knowing that people in this country seem almost hypnotized by the guy scares me for our future. To me, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the guy is bad news...why are others having such a hard time recognizing the HUGE red flags that started going up during the campaign and continue to this day?

[Mark Overholt]

One loses a job and is looking for help from anywhere and waiting for relief watches as his world collapses around him, of coarse poll ratings are going to show this. Unfortunately history shows us the federal government doesn’t do things very fast unless it concerns a republican agenda in a republican house with a republican senate then we go to war for republican reasons, which are totally misleading and could be considered lies, within days. Completely destroying the validity of the United Nations as the example for world democracy and the work of the last 5 generations of world leaders. We America, by acting unilaterally, have become a threat to world peace by acting with out the complete cooperation of the United Nations, which we had in Afghanistan.
His ratings my indeed be down but not for the job he is doing but for the frustration of the anguished individual.

[J.F.]

Gee what's up with this. President Obama has been in office less than 60 days, and already people expect him to produce miracles. He is a humanbeing first, and a man second. George Bush screwed things up the minute he got into office, and the American people still had the nerve to put the man back in office to run a second term! So .....there you have it! Ask yourself was it worth sending thousands and thousands of troops to Iraq? In the eight years Bush was in office, did the Bush Administration find Osuma Bin Laden? I rest my case.

[greg]

here our new president is supporting hamas and wanting to give them 900,000 dollars to rebuild a war torn area that they created, you dont see any money going to the israelies for thier war torn villages that hamas destroyed with about 300 missles . and we will be footing that bill with higher taxes not on the rich , but the poor and middle class.. our jobs are but lost by the 10s of thousands and we blame bush . well, heres one for you all, the dems were and are involved just as much as the repubs. they all stood to make profit one way or another.and had just as much chance to stop it, then and now Its just some more of, do the little guy(bush economics) it is just in a new set of hands thats all. you wonder why his ratings are slipping ."Nothing has changed"

[yankee247]

In response to Jose and Claudia's responses: You two clearly deserve each other and hopefully will meet soon in whatever communist/socialist country you came or are coming from. Your sentiments abound with a sense of entitlement and perverse understanding of economics which is abundant in people with beliefs such as yours. Instead of providing for yourself you simply look to others to provide for you, now with your saving grace in power you are hoping and praying that the checks will start to roll in and heaven on earth will abound. Unfortunately, this will not happen as tax and spend democrats, of which you have helped to elect, will run this country into the ground in a matter of only 2-3 years. I hope you enjoy less spending power, less money in your pocket, and less of just about everything you clearly believe you are entitled to. Be prepared for a Republican revolution in 4 years as your messiah will be exiled to the nearest Barnes and Noble peddling one of his many novels extolling the prevalent racism that exists in the country that elected him and lost 600,000 citizens freeing his race from bondage.

PS. Work harder, millions on welfare depend on you..

[Kelly]

LOL!!

What the hell kinda poll is that?!

Recent polls show that 3/4 of Americans support the President and his stimulus bill, AND nearly as much see the Republicans as opportunistic obstructionists.

[Brad]

Maybe we should have elected a president on ability instead of race or who he isnt. We all knew he was dirty before hes not goin to change.

[Christina]

I say those who voted him in made their bed and can now lay in it... Of course we all want the US to get stronger and grow and be better now then it was... But I don't care how you lay it out there is no way that all the spending the Dems have passed is going to make us better... It will only make us worse! As I'm sitting here watching the address to congress I keep asking myself how can any American not see whats really going on.

[kelly]

To all of you out there who really know what is going on here (and it isn't difficult to see)........you must be reminded that we have a large audience of people who (up until this recent election) have NEVER FOLLOWED POLITICS (or much else for that matter)........to them, simply the act of FOLLOWING is equivalent with CHEERLEADING......it isn't (and never will be) about self-reliance, rugged individualism or personal responsibility....and sadly they will never change.....what a wonderful life they have missed.....they are constitutionally incapable of accomplishing anything....which is why they continue to hold their hands out to their oldest and dearest friend (who they criticize at every opportunity).........THE GOVERNMENT