By DPA,
Washington : US President Barack Obama’s popularity has dropped to the lowest levels of his young presidency as the country’s economy continues to struggle, job losses mount and a critical health reform effort has stalled in Congress.
The number of Americans who say they trust Obama fell to 54 percent from 66 percent, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Washington daily Politico.
Obama’s approval rating has steadily declined over the last few months. It currently stands at 56.6 percent, according to a poll average compiled by realclearpolitics.com, while 37.9 percent disapprove. Obama still averaged 60-percent approval in late June.
The drop is being driven by domestic concerns. The ongoing recession – the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s – has fuelled the public’s anxiety.
The country’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent in June, the worst level in more than a quarter-century and about one percentage point higher than Obama forecast shortly after he entered office in January.
Meanwhile, Obama’s signature domestic issue, an overhaul of the country’s costly health care system, has struggled to make headway in Congress. The battle appears to be testing the public’s patience.
The public’s approval of Obama’s handling of some major issues, including health care, dropped below 50 percent in a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Monday.
Obama has taken to speaking daily about the urgency of passing health care legislation and plans an evening prime time televised press conference on Wednesday.
He has also urged the public to give his economic prescriptions more time to work. But opposition Republicans have already termed the $787-billion stimulus package at the centre of his plans a failure.