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Health & Fitness

What? Obama's Approval Ratings Drops

From the guys n’ gals at The Field Poll we learn that while 51% of California voters approve of President Obama's overall performance, a growing proportion (43%) disapprove. Puzzling, yes? According to The Field Poll, this represents an increase of 8 percentage points in the proportion disapproving since July.

Not even his Thanksgiving pardoning of the White House turkey (fill-in your own joke here) seemed to help. Add to that the nimrods he has to deal with in North Korea and the still simmering “Who Ya Gonna Support” debate in Syria and it gets worse.

The one ray of sunshine has been the President’s swift and decisive actions in sending aid to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. And his absolutely brilliant move to order the Navy and the Marines to distribute the supplies directly to the victims and thereby render moot, the mounting tales of supplies being co-opted by officials in the Philippine government.

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While the growth in the number of Golden Staters' disapproval spans most demographic subgroups, some of the greatest increases have occurred among voter  segments who have been among the President’s strongest supporters… including (get this) independent voters with no party preference (+16), Latinos (+16), union-affiliated households (+18), and women (+13).

Californians’ assessments of the President’s performance in two specific areas – his handling of health care (why is this not a surprise) and (most) foreign policy – have also declined compared to past measures. In addition, there has been a significant worsening in Californians’ views of the overall direction that the U.S. is heading.

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When measured by age, his disapproval rating has gone up +10 in the 18-39 and 40-64 categories and +6 in the '65 or older' group. How about by region? His biggest jump is +18 in the Central Valley while the smallest (but an increase nonetheless) is in the San Francisco Bay Area (+7). Using education as a gauge, the largest disapproval increase is +24 for those who are high school graduates or less (Hmm, the working class one thinks) while predictably the smallest ‘not liking what you’re doing’ sentiment is among those who have done post-graduate work (+6). Ivory tower syndrome? Who knows.

Perhaps most telling and one of the simplest but still illuminating measures of the overall mood is captured when voters were asked to consider whether the country is heading in the right direction or whether it is seriously off track. The current Field Poll shows a significant worsening in Californians’ views of the overall direction of the country, with 33% saying the U.S. is moving in the right direction and 55% feeling it is seriously off on the wrong track. One suspects 2014 can't come any faster for The President.

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