Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove.

Today’s figures include 24% who Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president and 41% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17 (see trends). This is the worst approval index since September 26, 2012.

This is the second day in a row - but only the fourth day in the past six months - that Strong Disapproval of the president has reached 40%. The other two days were May 2 and 3. 

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats approve of the job the president is doing, while 87% of Republicans disapprove. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 38% approve, 61% disapprove. 

Results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).

Just over half of all voters consider all three controversies surrounding the White House to be scandals. That includes the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups, the Justice Department's secret subpoena of media telephone records and the events surrounding the death of the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi, Libya last fall.

Just over one-out-of-four considers each of the three to be embarrassing but not a scandal, while 12% or 13% consider each to be no big deal.

Most voters believe it is at least somewhat likely at least one of these topics will still be in the news a year from today. The IRS and Benghazi issues are seen as the most likely to still be around.

When it comes to the question of which party voters trust to deal with issues of government ethics and corruption, Republicans now have a two-point advantage.  That's a big change from two months ago when Democrats had an eight-point lead. 

In his weekly newspaper column, Scott Rasmussen says that “it's impossible to predict the lasting impact of the controversies now besetting the Obama administration.” However, he notes that the president “has spent his public career trying to build faith in the federal government.” That effort, difficult to achieve before the latest news stories, now appears doomed.

On this weekend’s episode of What America Thinks,  Scott reviewed the initial public reaction to the IRS, Justice Department and Benghazi controversies. The weekly television show airs on 64 stations nationwide. Find a station near you.

If you’d like Scott to speak to your organization, meeting or conference, please contact Premiere Speakers.   

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Despite high profile congressional hearings about Benghazi, public opinion remains unchanged.   Prior to the hearings, 32% believed that the Obama administration had done a good job explaining what happened in that Libyan outpost last September 11. Now, two weeks later, 32% still hold that view.

However, while the numbers on Benghazi haven’t changed and the president’s overall job approval ratings have remained steady, there are signs the controversies may be having some impact. Just 39% now give Obama good or excellent marks for handling national security matters. That’s down seven points from a week ago and his weakest numbers on national security issues in more than two years.

For the second time in four weeks, Republicans have the edge on the Generic Congressional Ballot.  Prior to this recent stretch, the Democrats had led every week for six months.

If they won a lottery or came into enough money to maintain their current salary for life without working, most American workers (58%) would keep working. That includes 41% who would keep their current job and 17% who would find a new one.

Rasmussen Reports is a media company whose work is followed by millions on a wide variety of platforms. We regularly release our work at RasmussenReports.com, through a daily email newsletter, a nationally syndicated TV show, a nationally syndicated radio news service, an online video service and a weekly newspaper column distributed by Creators Syndicate.

To get a sense of longer-term job approval trends for the president, Rasmussen Reports compiles our tracking data on a full month-by-month basis.

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Rasmussen Reports has been a pioneer in the use of automated telephone polling techniques, but many other firms still utilize their own operator-assisted technology (see methodology). Pollsters for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have cited our "unchallenged record for both integrity and accuracy."

Learn more about the Rasmussen Reports track record over the years.

Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. To reach those who have abandoned traditional landline telephones, Rasmussen Reports uses an online survey tool to interview randomly selected participants from a demographically diverse panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Results are also compiled on a full-week basis and crosstabs for full-week results are available for Platinum Members.