Americans are split on whether President Obama is doing a good job, according to a poll released on the day his last State of the Union address.
According to a new CBS/New York Times poll, though 46 percent approve of Obama’s job performance, 47 percent disapprove — numbers that have been similar to the president’s standing in January 2014 and January 2015.
The results are decidedly partisan, with 86 percent of Republicans expressing disapproval and 81 percent of Democrats approving of Obama’s job performance.
It has been nearly seven years since Obama took his first oath of office, and a majority of respondents (52 percent) say his time in office has been what they anticipated, while 31 percent say it has been worse and just 15 percent say it has been better than expected.
Obama performed poorly on a variety of issues, including foreign policy (34 percent approval to 52 percent disproval); the economy (45 percent to 49 percent); the threat of terrorism (40 percent to 54 percent); healthcare (43 percent to 54 percent); immigration (37 percent to 55 percent); and gun policy (43 percent to 51 percent).
Compared to others at the same time in their presidency, Obama outperformed George W. Bush, but lagged behind approval ratings for Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
In January 2008, just 29 percent approved of Bush, while 62 percent disapproved. In February 2000, Clinton saw an approval rating of 60 percent compared to just 31 percent disapproval. And in January 1988, Reagan’s approval was 50 percent, with 35 percent disapproving of his job performance.
At the same time, however, there is bipartisan agreement on the legislative branch. Just 15 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, with 75 percent disapproving. Among Democrats, approval/disapproval is 13 percent to 78 percent, while among Republicans, it is 15 percent to 77 percent.
The telephone-based poll was conducted Jan. 7-10, surveying 1,276 adults nationwide, including 352 Republicans, 379 Democrats and 545 independents. The margin of error of the entire sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
