(11/18/11) -

Obama Gains Three Points, But Half of Americans Still Dissatisfied

While the approval rating for Congress also improved, it has not reached the 20 per cent mark since May.

While more Americans are endorsing the performance of their president than last month, most remain dissatisfied with Barack Obama, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,006 American adults, 43 per cent of respondents (+3 since October) approve of the way Obama is handling his duties, while 53 per cent (+1) disapprove.

The incumbent president gets his best marks in the Midwest (46%) and his lowest rating in the South (41%). The number of respondents who strongly disapprove of Obama outranks the proportion of those who strongly approve by a 3-to-1 margin (36% to 12).

The approval rating for the U.S. Congress also increased this month, to 16 per cent (+3). However, three-in-four Americans (78%, =) are dissatisfied with its actions.

Only three per cent of respondents strongly approve of their federal lawmakers, while half of them (49%, +2) strongly disapprove.

This month, the worst rating for Congress is in the West (10%) and the best in the Midwest (20%).

Analysis

A year before Americans cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential election, the approval rating for the president remains below the 50 per cent mark. This month has seen an improvement for the first time since July, but more than half of Independents (53%) are still dissatisfied with Obama.

Congress has begun to climb closer to the 20 per cent mark, after a particularly disastrous late summer and early fall. The views of Independents on the performance of federal lawmakers (13% approve) are closer to those of Republicans (11%) than to Democrats (24%).

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

CONTACT:

Mario Canseco, Vice President, Angus Reid Public Opinion
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com

Methodology: From November 15 to November 17, 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,006 American adults who are Springboard America panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.