Going through Marist’s poll, there’s a lot of interesting stuff that the survey release writers put several paragraphs down after beginning with:
President Barack Obama met with Senate leaders yesterday to jumpstart stalled budget talks, but do voters nationwide agree with how the president is handling the federal budget deficit?
According to this McClatchy-Marist poll, 61% of voters disapprove of how the president is handling the deficit. Fewer than one-third — 31% — approve, and 8% are unsure.
“President Obama is increasingly focusing on and is the focus of budget negotiations,’ says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. ‘Once again, it seems the buck stops in the oval office.”
“The buck stops at the oval office.” Mmm. Thank you. Quite illuminating.
A little further down, we find:
-
President Obama’s rating on the economy has hit an all-time low. Just 37% of registered voters nationally approve of the way the president is handling the economy while nearly six in ten — 58% — disapprove. Five percent are unsure.
-
However, many voters still don’t blame President Obama for the nation’s current economic conditions. 61% report the president inherited them while 31% think they are the result of his own policies.
-
45% approve of how Mr. Obama is performing in office while 47% disapprove. Eight percent are unsure. In McClatchy-Marist’s April survey, 44% thought highly of how the president was doing in office, 49% disapproved, and 6%, at the time, were unsure.President Obama continues to struggle with independent voters. A slim majority of these voters — 51% — disapprove of the president’s job performance while 39% approve.
-
Nearly six in ten American adults — 59% — report the country is moving in the wrong direction. However, 32% believe it is moving on the right path. Nine percent are unsure.
Note that these poll results are of adults, not registered voters or likely voters.
UPDATE: Looking over at RealClearPolitics, I notice that Obama’s job approval rating has been at or above 50 percent in precisely 2 of the 13 polls conducted in June.