The FINANCIAL — The summer is upon us, and with it the air in Washington, D.C. becomes heavy and oppressive. And, this is just the perfect climate for another month of low approval ratings for government officials.
After making some gains last month, President Obama holds steady with the same numbers this month with almost two in five (38%) giving the overall job he is doing positive ratings and 62% giving him negative ratings, unchanged from May, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Among Republicans, one in ten (9%) give the President positive ratings and nine in ten (91%) give him negative marks while among Democrats, two-thirds (68%) give President Obama positive ratings and one-third (32%) give him negative ratings. Looking at Independents, three in ten (30%) give the overall job the President is doing positive ratings while seven in ten (70%) give him negative marks.
Feelings on the direction the country is going in have gone down a little this month. Last month, just over one-third (35%) said things in the country were going in the right direction while just under two-thirds (65%) said things had gotten off on the wrong track. This month, one-third of Americans (33%) say things are going in the right direction in the country while two-thirds (67%) say things have gotten off on the wrong track. One reason may be that the economy is still weighing on Americans’ minds. Over one-quarter (27%) say the economy is one of the two most important issues for the government to address, while just under one-quarter (23%) say an issue to address is employment and jobs. Rounding out the top five issues for the government to address are healthcare (22%), immigration (17%) and the budget deficit and national debt (11%).
Looking to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, one in ten Americans (10%) give the overall job that Congress is doing positive ratings while nine in ten (90%) give them negative ratings. This is actually up from last month, when over nine in ten (93%) gave them negative ratings while 7% gave them negative marks. When it comes to their individual Member of Congress, just over one in five Americans (22%) give him or her positive ratings while nearly two-thirds (65%) give negative marks and over one in ten (13%) are not familiar enough with their Congressperson to rate them. This is a little better than March, when 21% gave their Member positive ratings and 68% gave their Representative negative marks, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Where this comes into play is when we look ahead to November and the midterm elections. Half of Americans (49%) say, when thinking about their Member of the House of Representatives, it is time to give someone else a chance while one in five (20%) believe their Congressperson deserves to be re-elected and three in ten (31%) are not at all sure. In March, half (51%) believed it was time to give someone else a chance, one in five (20%) said their Congressperson deserved to be re-elected and three in ten (29%) were not at all sure, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
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