Rasmussen: Napolitano Favorable Rating Only 23%

President Barack Obama recently praised Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for her efforts to fight illegal immigration, but she remains the most unpopular member of the president's Cabinet.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 43 percent of likely voters have an unfavorable impression of the former Arizona governor, including 24 percent with a very unfavorable opinion of her. Just 23 percent view the former Arizona governor favorably, with six percent who regard her very favorably. One out of three voters (34 percent) don’t know enough about Napolitano to offer any kind of opinion of her.

These findings show little change from early March. In early December 2008, just after Obama nominated Napolitano to her current position, 30 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of her, while 25 percent did not. But 43 percent didn’t know her well enough to voice an opinion.

Napolitano has since been criticized for controversial airport security measures and what many feel is a half-hearted effort to stop illegal immigration. The president in the same speech in which he praised the Homeland Security secretary encouraged Congress to move forward on immigration reform, saying his administration has “strengthened border security beyond what many believed was possible." But just 30 percent of voters think the U.S. border with Mexico is even somewhat secure, while 64 percent disagree and say it is not secure.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on May 11-12, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research LLC.