Obama Dips In The Polls

Barack Obama approaches his nomination for a second term with the lowest pre-convention personal popularity of an incumbent president in ABC News/Washington Post polls since the 1980s. He’s also at his lowest of the year among registered voters, with trouble among women.

Just 47 percent of registered voters in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll see Obama favorably overall, down 7 percentage points from his recent peak in April, while 49 percent rate him unfavorably. He’s numerically underwater in this group for the first time since February.

The decline has occurred entirely among women registered voters – from 57-39 percent favorable-unfavorable in April to a numerically negative 46-50 percent now. That’s Obama’s lowest score among women voters – a focus of recent political positioning – in ABC/Post polls since he took office. Unusually, his rating among men, 50-47 percent favorable-unfavorable, is numerically better than it is among women, albeit not by a significant margin.

Romney notched a slight 7-point gain in favorability among women from last week to this, to 41-48 percent, favorable-unfavorable. (Partisan preferences among women are very similar in these polls – Democrat-Republican-independent, 38-27-32 percent last week, 37-28-31 percent this week.)

The length and depth of the public’s economic discontent provides the context for voter attitudes. As Obama’s favorability has lost ground since spring, so has consumer confidence. And given persistently high unemployment and a range of related woes, 69 percent in an ABC/Post poll last week said the country was seriously off on the wrong track.

In addition to the drop among women, one other result stands out in evaluating the change for Obama since April: His favorable rating has lost 13 points among Republicans, from 20 percent then to a mere 7 percent now.

Romney, for his part, has solidified his popularity in some core Republican groups. Eighty-nine percent of Republicans now see Romney favorably overall, as do 78 percent of “very” conservatives, both new highs for Romney this cycle.

Rasmussen polls are some what different…
September 04, 2012

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 47% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns 45% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

Currently, 27% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15