The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 21% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21 (see trends). The president trails a Generic Republican by three points in an early look at Election 2012.
Another day, another new low in consumer confidence. Seventy-four percent (74%) now believe the economy is getting worse. Overall, confidence is the lowest since March 12, 2009 and is approaching the lowest levels of the post-9/11 era. Just 13% believe the jobs market is better than it was a year ago while 50% say its worse. At a time when economists and others wonder if the U.S. is about to enter another recession, most Americans believe the recession never ended.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update ). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook .
Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Thats the lowest total approval for the president in five months. Fifty-six percent (56%) at least somewhat disapprove.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) think that spending cuts should be considered in all federal programs.
Just 43% now believe elections are fair to voters. Thats the lowest total yet recorded and another sign of the growing disconnect between the American people and their politicians. In a book released last year, Scott observed that "the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century." He added that "the American people don't want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center. They want to govern themselves." In Search of Self-Governance is available at Amazon.com.
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