Voters will go to the polls next month more inclined to send a message of opposition to President Barack Obama than one of support — illustrating just how much more of a "liability than asset" the president is to Democratic candidates, a new Gallup poll shows.
According to the survey, 32 percent of voters want to send a message of opposition with their vote, compared to just 20 percent who are sending a signal of support.
The opposition vote is 13 points higher than in 1998, when President Bill Clinton was ensnared in a White House sex scandal — and 1 point higher than in 2006, in the midst of unpopular military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan ordered by President George W. Bush, according to the survey.
"The president is always a major factor in midterm elections, with his party typically losing seats in Congress," the polling outfit said in an analysis of the survey. "And it is clear, based on his lower approval ratings and that more voters say they will be voting as a means of showing opposition rather than support for the president, that Obama is more of a liability than an asset to Democratic candidates this year."
The pollsters note it's déjà vu all over again for Obama.
"Reinforcing that the 2014 midterms look more like 2006 and 2010 than 1998 or 2002, Obama's approval ratings have been in the low 40 percent range, including 42 percent in the most recent Gallup Daily tracking three-day rolling average," the poll noted.
The survey found 58 percent of Republican registered voters plan to vote to sound a very loud message of opposition to the president, while just 38 percent of Democratic voters say they'll support their party leader.
"Democrats are a bit less likely now … than in 2010 (45 percent) to say they will be sending a message of support to Obama, while Republican opposition to the president is the same," the pollster notes.
The poll's margin of error is plus or minor 4 percentage points.