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发帖数: 29846 | 1 CNN) – President Barack Obama's overall approval rating has dropped below
50 percent as a growing number of Americans worry that the U.S. is likely to
slip into another Great Depression within the next 12 months, according to
a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday also indicate
that the economy overall remains issue number one to voters, with other
economic issues - unemployment, gas prices and the federal deficit - taking
three of the remaining four spots in the top five.
Forty-eight percent of people questioned say they approve of how the
president is handling his duties in the White House, down six points from
late May. An equal 48 percent say they disapprove of how Obama's performing,
up three points from late last month.
The poll indicates a slight deterioration among Democrats and independent
voters, with the president's approval rating among Democrats down three
points to 82 percent and down five points among independents to 42 percent.
"But far and away his biggest drop has come among Republicans. In May, over
a quarter approved of President Obama's handling of his job, but that is
down to 14 percent now, a clear indication that any advantage he gained from
taking out Osama bin Laden has faded with time," says CNN Polling Director
Keating Holland.
According to the survey Obama's strength remains his personal appeal: Three-
quarters of all Americans say they approve of him personally, including a
plurality of Republicans. But positive views of the president's personality
may be trumped by economic jitters.
"Obama's approval among Republicans spiked after bin Laden's death, and no
one expected it to stay that high for another 18 months. But the White House
is probably worried more about the much smaller drops among independents
and even Democrats. Those shifts are likely due to concerns about the
economy, particularly unemployment," adds Holland.
Forty-eight percent say that another Great Depression is likely to occur in
the next year - the highest that figure has ever reached. The survey also
indicates that just under half live in a household where someone has lost a
job or are worried that unemployment may hit them in the near future. The
poll was conducted starting Friday, when the Labor Department reported that
the nation's jobless rate edged up to 9.1 percent.
"The poll reminded respondents that during the Depression in the 1930s,
roughly one in four workers were unemployed, banks failed, and millions of
Americans were homeless or unable to feed their families," says Holland. "
And even with that reminder, nearly half said that another depression was
likely in the next 12 months. That's not just economic pessimism - that's
economic fatalism."
According to the survey, more than eight in ten Americans say that the
economy is in poor shape, a number that has stubbornly remained at that
level since March.
Not surprisingly, with that much economic angst, the economy is the number
one issue, the only one that more than half of the public says will be
extremely important to their vote for president next year. Nearly all issues
that at least four in ten say will be extremely important to their vote are
domestic issues. Terrorism also makes that list, but Afghanistan is fairly
low and Libya is tied for dead last out of the 15 issues tested. Abortion
and gay marriage also rank very low, indicating that 2012 may be an election
that is shaped more by bread-and-butter issues than social and moral
concerns.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted June 3-7, with 1,015
adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling
error is plus or minus three percentage points.
– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
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