President Obama enjoys a job approval rating of 65 percent, slightly lower than in the three previous months, but his approval levels when it comes to his handling of specific issues - while nearly all positive - are lower than his personal marks, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted June 18-21. These findings generally track with several major polls released last week.
Obama's approval falls below 50 percent on the issue of the federal deficit, and 87 percent say they are concerned about its size. Fifty-six percent of those described themselves as very concerned. And his margin over congressional Republicans in terms of whom the public trusts more on the economy, while still large, fell 13 points since April.
On Obama's pledge not to use torture to fight terrorism, 50 percent supported his position and 46 percent said there are cases where torture should be considered. The public disapproved Obama's decision to close Guantanamo early next year by 50 percent to 45 percent.
These are his approval-to-disapproval ratios on a range of issues tested in the poll:
- The economy: 56 percent to 41 percent.
- Health care: 53 percent to 39 percent.
- The federal budget deficit: 48 percent to 48 percent.
- International affairs: 61 percent to 32 percent.
- Global Warming: 54 percent to 28 percent.
- The threat of terrorism: 57 percent to 36 percent.
- The situation with Iran: 52 percent to 36 percent.
- The situation involving the big U.S. automakers: 50 percent disapprove, 45 percent approve.
Fifty-two percent said the economic stimulus program so far had made no difference, 28 percent said it had helped and 19 percent said it had hurt. Of those who said it had hurt or made no difference, 63 percent said they did not believe it would help the economy.
The Democratic Party enjoys positive favorable-to-unfavorable numbers, 53 percent to 40 percent, while the Republican Party is seen unfavorably by 56 percent to 36 percent.
Asked whether the public trusts Obama or Congressional Republicans more on key issues, Obama bested the Republicans by 20 points or more on health care, the economy, the federal deficit and the threat of terrorism. However, on the economy, his margin over the Republicans dropped from 37 points in late April to 24 points.
The disapproval ratio for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 45 percent to 38 percent with 16 percent expressing no opinion.
Americans say the country is on the wrong track by 50 percent to 47 percent, compared to late April, when they said the U.S. was on the right track by 50 percent to 48 percent. (The margin of error is 3.5 points) But those numbers are far better than February and March when those saying the country was on the wrong track stood at 67 percent and 57 percent respectively.
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