With Race in Play, Obama's White Support Softens

(NEWSER) - Robert Gibbs said today Sonia Sotomayor regrets the way she phrased 2001 comments that have some Republicans calling the Supreme Court nominee a racist, the Hill reports. “I think she'd say that her word choice was poor,” the White House press secretary said. He suggested that Sotomayor was not trying to say Latina women make better judges than white men, but that “your experiences impact your understanding.” More»

Numbers are lower in nearly every area since 2010

(NEWSER) - More data from the latest Gallup poll is trickling out, and—surprise, surprise!—it's not good news for President Obama. When it comes to handling the economy, his approval rating has sunk to a new low of 26%. That's down 11 percentage points since mid-May; his previous low was 35% in November 2010. A whopping 71% disapprove of his handling of the economy—a new high, ABC News notes. Not to mention, just 24% approve of his handling of the federal budget deficit, and 29% approve of his job creation tactics. More»

Two-thirds oppose the president's Afghan war surge

(NEWSER) - The young voters who helped President Obama get elected say they approve of his performance as president, but that doesn't seem to include his Afghan war strategy—or any of his other major policy moves, a Harvard poll finds. Some 58% of the 18- to 29-year-olds polled gave the president a positive rating, but 66% were negative on the troop surge he ordered this week, and 52% were negative on health care and the economy, Reuters reports. More»

Americans sour on handling of economy, Afghanistan

(NEWSER) - Less than half of Americans polled approve of President Obama’s performance for the first time. A new Quinnipiac survey has his job approval rating at 48%, with 42% disapproving. Other polls have his rating at 53% and 56%, and a Quinnipiac pollster admits the new number “is not statistically different" from his 50% approval rating in October. "Nevertheless,” he tells Politics Daily , “in politics symbols matter.” More»

Says she burst into tears when Obama gave her the news

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor sat by the phone for 12 hours waiting for the call. When it finally rang, “I had my left hand over my chest, trying to calm my beating heart,” she recalls in an interview with C-SPAN. When President Obama offered her the Supreme Court appointment, “I caught my breath and started to cry and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. President.'” More»