Despite President Barack Obama's recent legislative victories, a recent poll shows that Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the President's job performance.
According to a recent Gallup Poll, President Obama's job approval rating averaged 44.5 percent during his 19th quarter in office, which is a decline of more than three percentage points from his 18th quarter. The poll was based on interviews of 47,049 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The drop is one of the largest quarter-to-quarter declines of his presidency, behind a nine-point drop in his third quarter.
The 19th quarter, which ran from July 20 through Oct. 19, is the third quarter in a row in which Obama's job approval rating declined. The decline followed five quarters of higher job approval ratings.
His approval rating in the 19th quarter fell during August and into September, when Obama sought congressional approval for military action in Syria, which the public largely disfavored. The proposed military action was averted when Russian officials approved a diplomatic solution in the form of overseeing the destruction of Syria's nuclear weapon arsenals.
Then during the 16-day government shutdown that began Oct. 1, his job approval rating declined further to 41 percent. His daily job approval ratings were only lower in November 2011.
Three post-World War II presidents--Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton-- had much higher 19th quarter averages, all near 60 percent. Two presidents had lower 19th quarter averages--Richard Nixon, after the Watergate scandal, and Lyndon Johnson, due to the Vietnam War. Obama's 19th quarter average is similar to those of George W. Bush and Harry Truman. Bush saw a similar decline due to his administration's negligent handling of Hurricane Katrina's rescue and recovery effort. His approval rating fell throughout the remainder of his presidency.
Obama's approval decline is due to the legislative conflicts over the budget and the Affordable Carte Act, as well as the federal debt limit.
However, Obama recently signed into law a Senate-brokered deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt limit while keeping in place the Affordable Care Act. The effects of those events on his approval rating is not yet clear, but will be revealed in coming days.
As of today, based on Gallup polling, Obama's approval rating dropped further, to 43 percent.
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