Obama net approval index at 0

Stongly approve minus strongly disapprove = 0; GM bailout to blame.

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OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Voters put president's approval index at 0
Poll shows opposition to GM takeover pushing popularity to lowest level

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Posted: June 05, 2009
4:31 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily



A tracking poll by Rasmussen Reports shows a new surge of disapproval for the way President Obama is performing, pushing his approval index to zero, the lowest overall rating yet.

The poll today showed 34 percent of the nation's voters strongly approve of Obama's performance and the same number strongly disapprove, the highest level yet for strong disapproval.

A previous assessment showed two of every three voters oppose government bailout plans for General Motors, and the newest assessment cited the high level of dissatisfaction.

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"The president's ratings have slipped since General Motors filed for bankruptcy to initiate a new government bailout and takeover. Just 26 percent of Americans believe the GM bailout was a good idea and nearly as many support a boycott of GM products. It remains to be seen whether the dip in the president's numbers is a temporary reaction to recent news or something more substantive," the newest report said.

The company's approval index is calculated by subtracting those who strongly disapprove of the president from those who strongly approve.

The assessment showed, overall, 54 percent of voters say they at least somewhat approve of Obama's work, and 46 percent disapprove.





Only 21 percent expect peace is likely between the Palestinians and Israel despite Obama's Middle East trip this week, while 66 percent see Israel as an ally of the U.S. and 29 percent say the same thing of Egypt.

Fewer than three in 10 voters nationwide expect U.S. relations with Muslim countries to be better in coming months, and just about the same number (21 percent) expect things to worsen, the survey said.

The results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 1,500 likely voters is plus or minus three percentage points. The results contain a 95 percent level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports said it weights its data to reflect the population at large.