President Obama's Job Approval Holds Steady Over the Summer

NEW YORK, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- As President Obama ends his summer, his approval ratings end the summer almost unchanged from when it began. Two in five Americans (40%) give the president positive ratings for the overall job he is doing while three in five (60%) give him negative ratings. In June, 39% of U.S. adults gave the president positive ratings and 61% gave him negative marks.

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,775 adults surveyed online between August 9 and 16, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Looking at President Obama's job approval by demographics

While it's probably not surprising that nine in ten Republicans (91%) and Conservatives (88%) give the president negative ratings, the fact that three in ten Democrats (29%) and one-quarter of Liberals (25%) also give him negative marks. Coupling this with over three in five Independents (63%) and just under three in five Moderates (57%) who also give President Obama negative ratings for the job he is doing shows how widespread the dissatisfaction is with the way things are right now.

President Obama's two "best" demographic groups appear when looking at education and region. Regionally, those in the East are divided on the president's job – although half of Easterners (50%) give him positive ratings, half (50%) also give him negative ones. Southerners are on the other side, as just one-third (32%) give the president positive ratings while 68% of Southerners give him negative marks.

Looking at education, those with a post-graduate education are the most likely to think the president is doing a good job, as three in five (60%) give President Obama positive marks on the job he is going. Those with a high school education or less are more likely to think he is doing a poor job as almost seven in ten (68%) give him negative ratings.

Direction of the country

Another area where Americans have been holding steady all summer is in the direction of the country. Just over one-third of U.S. adults (35%) say the country is going in the right direction while just under two-thirds (65%) say things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. In June, 34% of Americans believed the country was going in the right direction and 66% said things had gotten off on the wrong track.

So What?

In less than 75 days, the midterm elections will be over and the 2012 Presidential campaign season will be in full swing. Every first term president starts office already thinking of his re-election and, unfortunately for the Obama White House, the signs right now must be troubling. But, as summer vacations come to an end, the president and his staff know they have two years to convince the American electorate that they deserve another four years in office.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between August 9 to 16, 2010 among 2,775 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

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Q1205, 1210

The Harris Poll® #99, August 23, 2010

By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Harris Interactive