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Nov 20 2009, 2:08 pm by Chris Good

Obama Dips To 49

President Obama's job approval rating has dipped to 49 percent in the most recent numbers from Gallup--the lowest number Gallup has given him since his inauguration. It makes him the fourth fastest president, since Gallup started keeping track of Truman, to fall below 50 percent--behind Ford (3 months), Clinton (4 months), and Reagan (also 10 months, but sooner).

It's not his lowest approval number--Zogby put him at 42 percent in August, and Harris reported him at 45 percent in October--but Gallup has usually given him the friendliest numbers of any polling agency, which is what makes this number significant.

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Comments (8)

MJAN

And per the Gallup report itself: "Thus, Obama's descent below 50% is an important symbolic milestone in his presidency, but history suggests the odds of his regaining majority approval are high, and he could do so relatively soon, particularly since the individual nightly numbers for him in recent days have been right around the 50% mark. History would suggest his current loss of majority approval bears little relation to his chances of being elected to a second term in 2012."

That is, this number has no significance. Nice reading of the full analysis.

thesearethedaves (Replying to: MJAN)

Yeah, what with the Pollster.com average on the right, I don't know if these opinion poll updates are really a necessity until something actually changes. Obama's poll numbers have been hanging around 50% since the end of August. That's not great, but it's also not too bad -- remember: 50% approval also generally implies well less than 50% disapproval, since 5-10% typically have no opinion.

Nicholas2

Much ado aboout nothing. Reagan was

Nicholas2 (Replying to: Nicholas2)

Much ado aboout nothing. Reagan was under 50 when unemployment was at 10%, same deal here. It all depends on when / if jobs begin to return. Difference this time around is we had a massive stimulus in 1981-2 (defense bonanza) and large tax cut, and no attempt to control the deficit. Right track is at 37%, so there is no way the President can escape the gravitational pull of a sour and angry mood in the country.

nathrome

obama take a any risk in politicks. and today he gets a succesfull politition. and he also doing a nice job for america. and all american public like obama ane i m one of them,
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TheRaven

Truman and Reagan?

Damn good company for a new President!

Polling numbers are the biggest journalistic trope since the invention of movable type.

When presidents are given history's verdict, polling numbers don't figure. Truman left office with only 22% approval (same as Bush 2) and he's clearly one of the ten best. No one saw promise in post-war Korea, just a waste of blood and treasure on a backwards nation. Oops.

So polls, like articles, blogs or newspaper corporations are transitory and ephemeral. No truths are revealed. All us people who aren't polled because we've got unlisted cell phones (and no land lines), travel excessively, work too much or just don't like pollsters, we're not in the numbers.

Polling statistical validity is a silly concept in a multicultural nation constantly on the move where the people most likely to be sitting by the phone are white, retired and uneducated.

TheRaven isn't stupid and neither is the majority of America.

We like Obama just fine.

TR

decisivemoment

No, Gallup are not the friendliest agency to the president. They're pretty much in the middle of the pack. Research 2000 has been giving substantially higher approval ratings than Gallup for one at least over the last six weeks or so. R2K was actually down with Gallup a couple of months ago (52 approval rating) but is back up to 56 at the moment.

I think the polling firms need to be giving breakdowns of their numbers more. There are definitely signs that most of the recent softness in the president's numbers has been related to liberals getting upset over the messy compromising on things like health care and economic recovery.

johnstiff

Wow, this is amazing. Was really waiting for this. Go Obama, you're the best! Thanks for sharing this great article with us, I appreciate!
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