Wisconsin, Economy, Mideast Pummel Obama's Leadership Ratings

Buffeted by the triple threat of domestic unrest in Wisconsin, a struggling economy and upheaval in the Middle East, President Barack Obama’s leadership ratings have hit an all-time low with voters.

The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 37 percent of likely U.S. voters now say the president is doing a good or excellent job as a leader.  Forty percent rate his performance as poor. That means Obama's favorable ratings for leadership have fallen to its lowest level since he took office in January 2009. 

Last month, right after the president’s State of the Union speech, 47 percent of voters viewed his leadership positively. At that time, the number who gave Obama poor marks (33 percent) fell to its lowest level since September 2009. 

Twenty-seven percent now view the president's leadership style as too confrontational, while slightly more (29 percent) say it’s too cooperative.  Thirty-one percent think his leadership is just about right. Another 12 percent are undecided. 

Since late January 2009, the number of voters who say the president is too confrontational has ranged from a low of 13 percent to a high of 32 percent.  At the same time, the number who says he’s too cooperative has run from 17 percent to 38 percent. 

Female voters think the president is doing a better job than male voters do. Fifty percent of government employees say Obama is doing a good or excellent job, compared to just 35 percent of those who work in the private sector.

A solid majority of GOP voters (65 percent) and a plurality of voters not affiliated with either political party (43 percent) rate the president’s leadership as poor, a view shared by only 13 percent of Democrats.  Seventy percent of Democrats view his performance as good or excellent.

Most of the political class (91 percent) rates Obama’s leadership favorably, while 51 percent of mainstream voters give him poor marks.

Deficit reduction was a key part of Obama’s recent State of the Union speech, but few voters expect him to hit his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.

Most voters (55 percent) don’t think the president’s proposed $3.7 trillion federal budget includes enough spending cuts.

Voters also are inclined to think Obama can do a better job when it comes to the economy, another Rasmussen Reports survey reveals.

This Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 35 percent of likely U.S. voters feel the president is doing a good or excellent job handling the economy, but 47 percent rate the job he's doing in this area as poor, the most negative finding since mid-November.

With Obama maintaining a relatively low profile as political unrest spreads through the Arab world, a third Rasmussen Reports survey shows the number of voters who rate his handling of national security issues as poor has hit its highest level since the beginning of December.

This Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 40 percent of likely U.S. voters give the president good or excellent marks in the national security area, down five points from surveys the last three weeks. Thirty-six percent view his performance as poor.

Obama also has been on the wrong side of the showdown between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and public sector workers, another Rassmussen Reports survey shows.

This Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48 percent of likely U.S. voters agree more with the Republican governor in his dispute with union workers. Thirty-eight percent agree more with the unionized public employees, while 14 percent are undecided.

Obama has accused Republican Walker of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would nullify collective-bargaining agreements affecting most public employees.

The White House political operation, Organizing for America, has been involved in the Wisconsin dispute. And the president's political machine has worked closely with state and national union officials to get thousands of protesters to gather in Madison, the state capital.

The first survey – of 1,000 likely voters – was conducted on Feb. 20-21, 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.