Recent polls have not been kind to President Obama, as a survey out of California only emphasizes. A Field Poll released Tuesday found that almost as many voters in the nation’s biggest “blue state” disapprove of the president’s job performance (43 percent) as approve (45 percent).
This is first time that Californians’ approval of Obama’s job performance has sunk below 50 percent since November 2011, when another Field Poll found that 48 percent approved of his performance.
The latest Field Poll also notes:
This reading [45%] is the poorest appraisal of the job performance that Obama has received of his presidency and is in sharp contrast to the 62% favorable perception that California voters had of him at the beginning of his second term. Most of the recent decline in the President’s approval ratings has occurred among subgroups of voters who had been among Obama’s strongest supporters in prior polls….
The decline in Obama’s approval rating to 45% in the current poll is the lowest of his Presidency.
The Field Poll also found that 51 percent of those surveyed believe that the United States is on the wrong track, while 36 percent approve of the direction in which it is going.
Director of the Field Poll Mark DiCamillo contends that the poll shows Obama is struggling with his liberal base.
“These are constituencies that have been strong followers,” he said, referring to results that show Obama’s approval rating down 11 points in Los Angeles County and 7 points in the Bay Area. He adds that there’s “frustration in the president not getting his way in affecting policy in Washington.”
It’s very likely that setbacks in immigration policy and foreign policy have contributed to Obama’s fall in this key state.
According to Obama, however, the Republicans are too blame. During his Labor Day speech on Monday, Obama slammed Republicans for opposing his agenda.
“Republicans in Congress love to say ‘no,'” he said. “They say ‘no’ to everything.”
But the Sacramento Bee tells another story. The Bee quotes James Gay, 53, a liberal Democrat from Folsom who had voted for Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Gay notes that his view towards Obama changed following revelations from veterans hospitals across the country.
Gay adds that Obama has not taken strong leadership on problems resulting from an influx of illegals across the border.
“You need to be more of a commander in chief. You need to be seen. You need to be heard,” Gay said. “He seems like he’s always on vacation.”
The Hill notes that Obama’s wavering support amongst his liberal base could be an “ominous sign.”
“The president has been able to keep his approval ratings in the low 40s, largely thanks to a loyal Democatic base…” The Hill writes, “but support from California Democrats dropped 8 percentage points over the summer.”
On the potential implications of the Field Poll figures, The Hill adds, “If those trends are a harbinger of what is to come nationally, the president could see Democrats join independent and Republican voters in voicing concern over his leadership, further eroding his standing.”
Declining popularity in California could make fundraising for midterm elections difficult for Obama.
“The opinions of likely voters in November are even more negative” than in the state as a whole, observes DiCamillo.
And Republicans are planning to target Obama’s vulnerability in California. The Sacramento Bee reports:
The national Republican Party is targeting several vulnerable congressional seats in the state as it seeks to increase its majority in the House of Representatives, including that of Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove. The California Democratic Party is trying to rebuild its two-thirds supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature after three of its senators were suspended in March.
The Field Poll is just one of many to reflect a dissatisfied populace.
A Quinnipiac University poll has found that Obama has been determined to be the worst president since World War II, surpassing even President George W. Bush, who left the office with a 34 percent approval rating, according to Gallup.
Interestingly enough, it seems that Obama’s presidency helped to boost former President George W. Bush’s approval rating. A 2013 Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that approximately 47 percent of those polled approve of how Bush handled his presidency, while 50 percent disapprove. That is almost a 15 percent increase in approval from the time he left the White House.
And a June 2014 Gallup poll shows that President Bush’s favorability rate is at 53 percent. That poll reveals that all living former presidents enjoy a favorability rate of over 50 percent, while Obama’s stands at 47 percent. According to that particular poll, Bill Clinton has the highest favorability rating of all living presidents, 64 percent, with George H.W. Bush coming in just behind him, with a 63 percent rating.
Of course, approval and disapproval ratings are not a legitimate assessment of a presidency because they take into consideration merely popularity and not whether the president in question has strictly adhered to the oath he took to protect the Constitution. If the latter were taken into account with those polls, the figures would likely look very different.
Regarding constitutionality, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll shows that 44 percent of U.S. voters believe Obama has been less faithful to the Constitution than most other presidents, while 22 percent believe he has been more faithful. Thirty-percent say he has followed the Constitution about the same as other presidents have.
Nationally, Obama’s approval rating sits at 42 percent, while 51 percent disapprove of his job performance, according to the latest Gallup Poll.
Photo of President Obama: AP Images
