The bad news for President Barack Obama today isn’t only economic: his ratings have declined again, amid further signs that he is losing independent voter support. His overall approval rating has dropped to 53 percent, a CBS news poll finds.
Approval for Mr. Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan has dropped as well as more Americans now disapprove than approve.
However, a majority of Americans still approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling his job as president, but this percentage is down three points. Fifty-three percent of Americans approve of how he’s handling his job, down from 56 percent last month.
The president’s approval rating has dropped seven points among independents. Forty-five percent of independents now approve of how the president is handling his job. Last month, a majority of 52 percent approved.
Assessments of how Mr. Obama is handling the war in Afghanistan have become more negative since early October. Thirty-eight percent now approve of how President Obama is handling the war – but even more, 43 percent, disapprove. Disapproval has risen nine points, from 34 percent last month.
Again, most of the change has occurred among independents. Last month, 44 percent of independents approved and 36 percent disapproved of the job Mr. Obama was doing on Afghanistan. Now, more independents disapprove than approve: 49 percent disapprove, and just 30 percent approve.
A bad sign for Obama and the Democrats..s
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.