Not surprisingly, nine in ten Republicans (91%) give President Obama negative ratings, but so do 30% of Democrats. Among Independents, almost two-thirds (64%) give him negative ratings. There is also a generational gap. President Obama does better among the Boomers – both Echo (those aged 18-33) and Baby (those aged 46-64). More than two in five of both Echo Boomers (43%) and Baby Boomers (45%) give him positive ratings compared to only 34% of Gen Xers (those aged 34-45) and 36% of Matures (those aged 65 and older). Another potential problem for the president is a reverse gender gap. Historically, Democratic presidents have done better among women than among men. Yet, for President Obama, 56% of men give him negative ratings compared to 62% of women.
After last month’s all time low of 10% positive and 90% negative, Congress has returned to their standing from January of this year. Over four in five Americans (84%) give them a negative rating while just 16% give them a positive one. Their party may be in control of Congress, but less than three in ten Democrats (28%) give them a positive rating. It is even worse among Independents and Republicans, as just 11% and 4% respectively give Congress positive marks for the overall job they are doing.
While President Obama may have seen his numbers unchanged and Congress is still near the bottom, Americans are more optimistic about the state of the country. Two in five (39%) say things in the country are going in the right direction while 61% say things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. This is better than March when one-third (33%) said things were going in the right direction and 67% said they were going off on the wrong track.
Even though health care reform has passed, one-third of Americans (34%) still say it is one of the two most important issues for the government to address, although this is down from 45% who said so in January. While the economy overall has gone down a little as an issue to address—with 27% of U.S. adults citing it as one of the two issues, down from 32% in January—employment has gone up. One-third of Americans (34%) say it should be addressed, up from 31% who said so in January.
So What?
Health care reform did not provide the hoped for bounce in President Obama’s job ratings. The length of the battle and the perception that it was pulling the White House’s attention from the economy and jobs left most Americans with a health care headache. If the president can change the focus to employment and jobs and accomplish something on that front, his approval numbers should move in the direction the White House is hoping for, especially going into the mid-term elections. Congress, on the other hand, has a lot more at stake this coming November. With a positive job rating of only 16%, they need to be careful that the attitude of “throw them all out” doesn’t become the prevailing theme among voters. If it does, they have no good will to spare.
