Obama's Job Approval Declines for 3rd Straight Quarter to Near-Record Low

(CNSNews.com) - President Obama's approval rating has taken another hit, dropping for the third quarter in a row, this time to 44.5 percent between July 20-Oct. 19, Gallup reported on Monday.

That's a three point decline from the previous quarter, and it is the third largest quarter-to-quarter decline of his five-year (19-quarter) presidency.

Obama's highest approval rating (63 percent) came during his first quarter as president, and by the fifth quarter, it had dropped to 48.8 percent. Obama's lowest quarterly approval rating, 41 percent, came in the 11th quarter (third year) of his presidency.

Looking at the most recent quarter, Gallup says Obama's daily job approval rating dropped in August and September amid criticism over his call for military action in Syria and Russia's intervention to prevent it. The partial government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 and Obama's refusal to negotiate over that and the debt limit sent his job approval rating as low as 41 percent in the current quarter, before it rebounded slightly.

Gallup notes that three post-World War II presidents -- Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, and Bill Clinton -- had significantly higher 19th quarter averages than Obama, all near 60 percent. Two presidents had lower 19th quarter averages than Obama: Richard Nixon, whose 19th quarter came during the Watergate investigations, and Lyndon Johnson, attributable mostly to the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War.

Obama's 19th quarter approval average is very similar to that of George W. Bush (43.9 percent). Bush's 19th quarter ratings drop came amid criticism of his handling of Hurricane Katrina, and it never recovered.


- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/obamas-job-approval-declines-3rd-straight-quarter-near-record-low#sthash.uZt8WYHW.dpuf

I'm surprised it is still so high. He's heading for the high thirties.