President Obama’s already all-time low 44% approval rating in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll will almost certainly get a lot lower if Americans are right about the direction the United States economy is headed. Forty-nine percent of respondents told NBC/WSJ that they think the economy is headed into another recession. Only 44% believe that won’t happen.
Already, 37% of those polled by NBC/WSJ, say Obama’s policies have “hurt” economic conditions. Another 39% say they have made no difference while only 23% say Obama has “helped” the economy. The NBC/WSJ results mirror those of the ABC News/Washington Post poll showing that 37% of respondents believe “Obama’s economic program” is making the economy worse. Only 17% told ABC/Post Obama had made the economy better while 47% say his economic program has had no effect.
Politico’s new Battleground poll also shows strong displeasure with Obama’s economic record, with 59% disapproving of the way Obama has handled the economy. The Battleground poll also found that while 74% of Americans like Obama as a person, 43% of them say they will definitely not vote for him in 2012. Only 26% of Americans say they will definitely vote for Obama while another 28% said they would consider it.
Obama does, however, fare better against actual GOP candidates than he does against a generic one in the NBC/WSJ poll. Obama beats both Texas Gov. Rick Perry (47 to 42) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (46 to 45) in head-to-head matchups, but he loses to a generic “Republican candidate” 44 to 40.
Republicans in Congress also fare well in both the Battleground and NBC/WSJ polls. According to NBC/WSJ, Americans prefer that Republicans maintain control of Congress by a 47 to 41 percent margin. And in the Battleground poll, Americans prefer Republicans on five out of eight issues surveyed, including a 54 to 31 advantage on “controlling the deficit” and a 44 to 39 advantage “turning the economy around.” Democrats preform best on “standing up for the middle class,” where they are preferred 58 to 31.
