Obama Approval Dives Over Handling Of Border Crisis
Obama Approval Dives Over Handling Of Border Crisis
By JOHN MERLINE, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 08/01/2014 07:44 PM ET
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President Obama's approval rating dropped to his lowest levels as the public hammers him on his handling of each of the major crises facing the country, according to the latest IBD/TIPP poll, released on Friday.
The survey, taken the last week of July, found that only 38% of the public approves of the job Obama is doing as president, while 53% disapprove.
That's a 10-point negative swing in just the past month.
Obama hit an all-time low in the IBD/TIPP Presidential Leadership Index, which fell 3.2 points this month to 41.5. That's almost precisely where the leadership index stood at this point in President Bush's second term, just before Democrats swept the House and Senate in the 2006 midterm elections.
This drop comes despite the fact that personal outlooks and views on the economy and direction of the country have barely budged. Nor did the public's views on Obama's handling of the economy, the budget and jobs change noticeably.
But Obama got extremely low marks in his handling of every major crisis gripping the nation at home and abroad.
Just 25% say Obama is handling the border crisis well, while 56% blame his policies for encouraging the wave of illegal crossings by children and teens. Even among Democrats, only 46% say Obama is doing a good job, while less than a quarter (23%) of independents do.
Only 26% give Obama high marks for his handling of the Israel/Gaza conflict. And while Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have expressed concern about the level of force used by Israel in its attacks, 53% believe it has been appropriate.
33% say Obama has been doing a good job dealing with the Malaysia Airlines missile strike in eastern Ukraine. More than three-quarters believe the Russian government was directly involved in that attack, which killed the 298 people on board.
And while the public grows increasingly worried that the Islamic militants in Iraq pose a threat to U.S. security — 63% say they do, up from 53% in June — the country has become even more soured on Obama's handling of the situation. Less than a quarter (24%) say he's doing a good job handling this crisis, down from 27% in June.
Meanwhile, the border crisis has clearly taken its toll on support for immigration legislation.
The IBD/TIPP poll taken over the same time period last year found that 54% supported new laws that would include a path to citizenship. Now it's down to 47%.
The share who want the border secured first, before any other legislation take place, climbed to 47%, from 39% last year.
Independents have completely flipped on this issue, favoring border security over new laws 51% to 42%. Last year, just 43% favored strengthening border security reform while 53% wanted new immigration legislation.
ObamaCare Support Falls
ObamaCare also took a hit in the latest IBD/TIPP poll, with 51% saying they oppose the law and just 41% supporting it. Last month, the public was split evenly at 46%.
The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll noted the same trend, with ObamaCare's unfavorable rating hitting an all-time high 53% in July.
One possible contributor: negative word-of-mouth.
Of the 47% who said they'd talked to a friend or family member about the health law in the past month, 27% said they'd heard mostly bad things. Just 6% said they'd heard mostly good things, with the rest hearing both good and bad, the Kaiser survey found.
In other words, negative word-of-mouth about ObamaCare is outstripping positive word-of-mouth by more than 4-to-1.
For any private firm, that level of brand detractors would spell significant trouble.
At the same time, more also report seeing mostly negative ads about ObamaCare than mostly positive ones, 19% to 7%.
This spike in opposition to ObamaCare also comes at a time when many more enrollees are likely to have tried using their new health plans.
At best, this appears to have done nothing to bolster support for the program and may be hurting the law's popularity.
The IBD/TIPP poll also found that more than twice as many want the law repealed as want it left alone — 47% to 21%.
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