Just in case anyone needed a not-so-subtle reminder of what 2012 will look like, new national polls from partners ABC News/Washington Post and CBS News/New York Times out Monday provided it — it will be a fight no matter who the Republican nominee is.
That’s because despite the last few months of good macroeconomic news and an extended brawl in the GOP nominating process, President Obama has been rated negatively on the economy for nearly two years. It’s been a consistent problem and one that has surely implanted itself in the minds’ of American voters. As the two latest polls show — all it takes is a soft reminder of the economic ditch the county has been in to remind voters they have been considering alternatives.
And it seems that small nudge has come in the form of rising gas prices.
“Rising gas prices may be weighing on President Obama’s approval ratings: after topping off at 50% approval just last month, his rating has dipped to 41% today, the lowest of his presidency,” CBS/NYT pollsters wrote in their analysis of their numbers. “As has historically been the case, a majority of Americans (54%) believes a President can do a lot to control gas prices.”
That translated into the lowest overall approval rating for President Obama in CBS/NYT polling — 41 percent against 47 percent disapproval. In the ABC/WaPo survey, Obama’s approval rating was a negative 46 – 50. They came to the same conclusion.
“Gas prices are a main culprit: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation at the pump, where rising prices have already hit hard. Just 26 percent approve of his work on the issue, his lowest rating in the poll,” the paper wrote. “Most Americans say higher prices are already taking a toll on family finances, and nearly half say they think that prices will continue to rise, and stay high.”
The problem seems to lie in the combination of two beliefs here — that any President has the ability to affect the price at the pump, and that President Obama is the man to do it. On count one, there isn’t much any President can do directly about the price of oil and therefore the price of gas. But as the CBS/NYT poll shows, a majority of Americans think that he can make a difference, so they may hold him just as culpable.
On the second point — that this particular President has the solutions to the nation’s economic problems — it’s hard to say that people are convinced. President Obama has seen his rating on the economy tick up over the first two months of this year thanks to stock market growth and positive jobs numbers.
Check out or TPM Poll Average of President Obama’s handling of the economy below.
Of course, the saving grace for Obama has been the men he may run against for the presidency come November. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has seen his unfavorability spike nationally as he can’t seem to close the deal on the Republican nomination.
So with his own electoral issues, Romney continues to see mixed results against the President. In the CBS/NYT numbers, he is down 47 – 44 nationally, as Obama runs two points better amongst independent voters and builds a lead on outsized support amongst women (Romney leads men, but by half as much). In the ABC/WaPo poll he was up two percent in total, 49 – 47, among registered voters, a massive turnaround from a month ago when Obama had a 52 – 43 advantage.
