For much of the summer, as approval ratings for President Obama’s handling of the economy, health care, the deficit, and other domestic issues declined, the one bright spot in the president’s polling was his handling of foreign affairs.
No longer. The new CNN/Opinion Research poll, released Tuesday afternoon, shows a sharp decline in the public’s approval of Obama’s handling of a number of international issues.
In March, according to CNN, 67 percent of those surveyed approved of Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan. Now, that number is 49 percent — an 18 percentage-point drop. The number of those who disapprove of Obama’s Afghanistan policy has grown from 29 percent to 46 percent.
In March, 61 percent approved of Obama’s handling of terrorism. Now, it’s 52 percent — a nine point drop. The number of people who disapprove has gone from 35 percent to 45 percent.
In March, 66 percent approved of Obama’s handling of foreign affairs in general. Now, it’s 54 percent — a 12 point drop. The number of people who disapprove has gone from 28 percent to 42 percent.
Couple those results with Obama’s already-anemic numbers on domestic policy issues — in the CNN poll, he is below 50 percent approval on the economy, health care, taxes, the deficit, and Medicare — and this has been a summer of extraordinary decline for a president whose overall approval rating once hovered near 70 percent.
