The FINANCIAL — President Obama enters the seventh year of his presidency in a familiar position when compared with his recent predecessors. His 47% job approval rating places him squarely between George W. Bush (33%) and Bill Clinton (63%) at similar points in their second terms. Obama’s rating is comparable to Ronald Reagan’s in January 1987 (49%), when Reagan was embroiled in the Iran-Contra affair, according to Pew Research Center.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Jan. 7-11 among 1,504 adults, finds that Obama’s job approval has risen five points since December (42%). The president’s job rating changed very little over the course of 2014.
Obama is being helped by a steady improvement in public views of the nation’s economy. Currently, 27% say the economic conditions are excellent or good, up from 16% a year ago. Perhaps more important, almost twice as many expect the economy to be better than worse a year from now (31% vs. 17%).
For the first time in five years, more Americans say Obama’s economic policies have made conditions better (38%) than worse (28%); 30% say they have not had much of an effect. And Obama engenders more confidence on the economy than do the leaders of the new Republican majority in Congress, according to Pew Research Center.
But the new survey finds stubborn skepticism about the strength of the economic recovery, and little evidence that people think that their personal financial fortunes have improved. A small but growing share of Americans (16%) say the economy is recovering strongly. However, many more (66%) think the economy is recovering, ‘but not so strongly.’
The percentage of Americans who say the economy is doing well has increased by 11 points since Obama’s last State of the Union in January 2014. The percentage rating economic conditions as ‘poor’ has fallen 15 percentage points over the same period. Moreover, 36% say there are plenty of jobs of available in their communities, among the highest during Obama’s presidency.
Yet there has been no change in perceptions about whether incomes are keeping pace with the cost of living. Currently, 55% say their family’s income is ‘falling behind’ the cost of living; 37% say they are ‘staying about even,’ while just 6% say their incomes are going up faster than the cost of living. In January 2014, 57% felt as if they were falling behind financially, according to Pew Research Center.
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