Obama Approval Rating Dips Below 50%

Glum nation pessimistic about economy, wars

(NEWSER) - America's mood has crashed hard after the euphoria that greeted Barack Obama's inauguration: A recent poll shows the country in a pessimistic funk as the president struggles to revive the economy and fight two wars abroad. But Americans haven't lost all faith in Obama: His approval stands at 54%, no change from October, according to the AP-Gfk poll. More»

Tuesday troop surge announcement comes as approval falters

(NEWSER) - President Obama will announce his decision to send 20,000 to 40,000 more troops to fight in Afghanistan in a speech to West Point cadets next Tuesday at 8pm. His remarks will outline a surge, but administration officials say the president is not making a case for an open-ended war. “We are in year nine of our time in Afghanistan,” says Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “We’re not going to be there another eight or nine years.” More»

Support for public option also grows; GOP isn't more popular, though

(NEWSER) - New poll numbers out today hold good news and bad for the Obama administration. Support is rising for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds, and nearly half now favor a public option in the health-care reform measures now under consideration. The bad news: 58% said the economy is still in the tank, a 6% increase from September. More»

Poll numbers plummeted amid Sotomayor, Gates controversies

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.” More»

(NEWSER) - Though opinions of the government vary, most Americans continue to have a favorable view of President Obama, Fox News reports. In a new poll, 62% of respondents approve of the job Obama is doing; 31% disapprove. 64% like the president as a person. But on the administration’s takeover of General Motors and handling of the economy, the country divides along party lines. More»