45% for Obama, 49% Against If Election Were Held Right Now

John_Browning · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:48 pm Post subject:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20091103/pl_rasmussen/futureelection20091103
Americans are a little less enthusiastic about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama this time around.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama if he was up for reelection right now. Forty-nine percent (49%) say they would be unlikely to vote for the president's reelection.

Thirty-four percent (34%) would be very likely to support Obama, while 40% say they would be not at all likely to do so.

The question did not specify whom the president would be running against and also was asked of all adults as opposed to just likely voters. Obama carried 53% of the vote nationally over Republican candidate John McCain's 46% in last November's election.

As in that contest, women are more supportive of Obama than men. Adults 18 to 29 are more likely to vote for the president than those who are older. Ninety percent (90%) of African-Americans say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama, compared to 36% of whites.

Among adults not affiliated with either major political party, those not at all likely to vote for the president's reelection outnumber by two-to-one those who would be very likely to support him.

Forty-two percent (42%) of all Americans rate the job Obama has been doing as president as good or excellent. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say he is doing a poor job.

Obama's overall job approval rating in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll based on responses from likely voters - fell below 50% for the first time in July. A month-by-month review of the president's ratings shows that they held steady in August and September before declining slightly last month.

The higher degree of skepticism about the president may be due in part to the finding that 48% of Americans say they are doing worse economically since Obama's election. Just 16% say they are doing better, while 32% say they're doing about the same.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of men say they are doing worse economically, but just 41% of women say the same. Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans and 53% of unaffiliateds say they're doing worse, while a plurality (45%) of Democrats say things are about the same.

Just one-in-three (33%) voters say the United States is heading in the right direction, while 62% believe it is heading down the wrong track.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of adults believe Obama's election has had a positive influence on race relations. Thirty percent (30%) say his election has had a negative influence, and 26% say it's had no impact on race relations.

Most blacks (52%) say Obama's election has been good for race relations. Whites are more narrowly divided on the question.

Americans give mixed notices to First Lady Michelle Obama, too. Thirty-three percent (33%) say they have a more favorable impression of her since the election, but 26% say that impression is less favorable now. Another 33% say their impression is about the same now as it was then.

In a survey in early September, 59% of voters expressed a favorable opinion of Mrs. Obama, including 39% whose view of her is very favorable. Thirty-two percent (32%) viewed her unfavorably, with 16% very unfavorable toward her, the highest finding in the latter category to date.

Just 14% of voters say Hillary Clinton would be doing a worse job as president than Obama if she had won last year's Democratic presidential nomination. Twenty-seven percent (27%) think Clinton would be doing a better job as president while 49% say she would be performing about the same.

Voters have consistently expressed unhappiness with the bailouts of the auto and financial industries pushed by the president and many of his other government-driven initiatives. Questions linger about the effectiveness of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan proposed by the president and passed by Congress in February.

Just 42% now support the health care reform plan proposed by Obama and congressional Democrats.

For the first time in recent years, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. Republican congressional candidates also remain ahead of Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

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This national telephone survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted by Rasmussen Reports October 27-28, 2009. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence (see methodology).

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
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