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What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls
Saturday, September 03, 2011 

Lucky for President Obama the election is still 14 months away because the economic news couldn’t get much worse, capped with Friday’s report of zero job growth in August. That forced the president to kill plans for tougher clean air rules that critics said were a job killer, but the decision is sure to infuriate voters on his side of the aisle. 

In August, the president’s full-month Job Approval Index rating fell four points to –21, by far the lowest finding since he took office in January 2009.  Prior to last month, Obama’s lowest level of approval was -17, reached three times since January 2009.  With a few exceptions, the president’s Approval Index rating has stayed between -14 and -17 since the beginning of  2010. 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll results for the first days of September don’t suggest that Obama’s job approval ratings are moving up anytime soon. 

Voters continue to have mixed views of the president’s leadership.  Forty-two percent (42%) see the president as a good or excellent leader, but 40% rate his leadership as poor.  When Obama first took office, 64% gave him good or excellent marks for leadership. Those positives fell into the 40s by July 2009 and have generally remained in that range ever since. 

The president now earns his lowest level of support yet against a generic Republican in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup.  The generic Republican earns 48% of the vote, while the president picks up support from 40%. 

For the first time this year, Texas Governor Rick Perry, the current frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, leads the president in a national Election 2012 survey - by a 44% to 41% margin.  Other Republican candidates trail the president by single digits. 

Perry recently caused a stir when he told voters it was his goal to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential as possible in their lives. But voters are closely divided over whether that’s such a good idea.  Thirty-eight percent (38%) agree with the goal of making Washington as inconsequential as possible in the lives of Americans. But 34% disagree with that goal, and nearly as many (28%) are undecided about it. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Tea Party members share Perry’s enthusiasm for lessening the importance of Washington and the federal government, compared to just 28% of those who are not part of the grassroots movement. 

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is scheduled to make a major appearance at a Tea Party gathering in Iowa today with many speculating about what she might announce. Voters aren’t really sure if she’ll run for president, but 60% think it would be bad for the GOP if Palin enters the race.  Even most Republicans (52%) feel that way. 

Scott Rasmussen will discuss our latest findings on the Republican presidential race, including new numbers out of Iowa, and the abysmal job situation during tomorrow’s edition of The Rasmussen Report radio show at 3 p.m. Eastern/ 2 p.m. Central.  The program airs live on WMAL 630AM in Washington, DC and WLS 830AM in Chicago and also is streamed live online, so please tune in. 

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, slipped a point in August to the lowest level measured in one year.  Just 17% of working Americans now report that their firms are hiring, while 24% say their firms are laying workers off. With the exception of March, the latest results are the worst since November. It has been nearly three years since the number reporting that their firms are hiring has topped the number reporting layoffs. 

The Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily confidence, remain little changed this week.  Sixty-six percent (66%) of both investors and consumers believe the economy is in recession. 

The president is expected to lay out a detailed plan to encourage job growth this coming week, but early reports suggest that his proposals include a call for increased government spending which Republicans are unlikely to agree to. The president is sure to propose increased spending for transportation infrastructure in the country as a job creator. But Americans send fairly positive signals about the roads they drive and the bridges they cross, and most aren’t confident that the new infrastructure money will make things any better. 

One proposal in Congress that the president hasn’t embraced calls for the federal government to spend $46 billion to hire a million people on a temporary basis in areas including child care, eldercare, education, public health and housing, construction and maintenance, recreation and the arts. Just 30% favor the federal government hiring one million people on a temporary basis, perhaps in part because 56% think it’s likely most of these temporary jobs would be wasteful “make-work” projects. 

Voters are even less excited about the idea of the federal government providing a basic living for all Americans. Only 11% support a proposal for the federal government to provide every single American with a basic income grant, or enough money to enjoy a modest living regardless of whether they choose to work or not. 

While voters are unhappy with the president’s performance, they’re even unhappier with the job Congress is doing. Just six percent (6%) now rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent - for the second straight month.  Sixty-six percent (66%) say Congress is doing a poor job, up five points from July and the highest negative finding since March 2010. 

Congress will return from its August recess next Tuesday, and its top leaders will come back just as disliked as when they left. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the least popular congressional leader, with 59% who view her unfavorably and 31% who share a favorable opinion of her.  Voters are more closely divided in their views of current House Speaker John Boehner. He draws favorable reviews from 36% of voters, while 41% view him unfavorably. 

Republicans now lead by nine points – 45% to 36% - on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 28.  The GOP has led on the ballot every week since June 2009. 

The number of Americans not affiliated with either major political party has reached its highest level ever, while the number of Democrats has reached an all-time low.  During the month of August, voters not affiliated with either party grew to 33.5%. The number of Republicans inched up to 33.5%, while those calling themselves Democrats fell to 33.0%, the lowest level measured in seven years. 

Only 16% of all voters now say the country is heading in the right direction.  That’s down 13 points from a year ago. Since the third week in July, the number of voters who are confident in the nation’s current course has resembled levels measured in the final months of the Bush administration. 

Just 34% think America’s best days are in the future.  A plurality (46%) believes the nation’s best days are in the past, while 19% more are not sure. 

Read the rest of the story with links at Rasmussen