Saudi Arabia's
Posted on 06/18/2014 12:54:24 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The percentage of Americans approving of President Barack Obama’s handling of foreign policy issues has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency as he faces multiple overseas challenges, including in Iraq, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Additionally, the public is evenly split on whether Obama is a competent manager of the federal bureaucracy. And a majority of respondents – 54 percent – believe the term-limited president is no longer able to lead the country.
Obama Calls on Iraq’s ‘Neighbors’ to Help Contain TerroristsNIGHTLY NEWS
“This is a bad poll for President Obama, and not a good poll for anybody else,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democrats Peter Hart and Fred Yang.
“Whether it’s [Vladimir] Putin, Ukraine, the VA hospitals, Bowe Bergdahl, the events have controlled Obama, rather than Obama having controlled the events,” Hart adds. “He may be winning the issues debate, but he’s losing the political debate, because they don’t see him as a leader.”
More oppose Bergdahl prisoner swap than support it
The poll was crafted before the instability in Iraq grabbed headlines, so it doesn’t contain questions on that subject. It also was conducted before the United States arrested a suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Read the full poll here
But it shows an American public that has grown dissatisfied with President Obama on foreign policy and national security decisions.
Just 37 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, which is an all-time low in the survey, while 57 percent disapprove, an all-time high.
What’s more, by a 44 percent-to-30 percent margin, Americans disagree with the Obama administration’s decision to secure the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five imprisoned Taliban fighters.
We know more about the challenges facing President Obama in the next two years of his term than how this year’s congressional elections will play out in the next six months
And respondents are evenly divided if the details of Bergdahl’s disappearance from his base in Afghanistan matter in the U.S. decision to secure his release: 47 percent say the details matter, while 46 percent say they don’t.
President Obama’s overall approval rating in the poll is at 41 percent, down three points from April. That’s tied for his all-time low in the survey.
And his favorable-unfavorable rating is upside down (41 percent-45 percent) after being right-side up two months ago (44 percent-41 percent).
Perhaps most troubling for the president, 54 percent think he is unable to lead the country and get the job done, compared with 42 percent who believe he can.
The midterm matchup
These numbers put the Democratic Party at a clear disadvantage heading into November’s midterm elections, when a president’s job rating can often be predictive of the general outcome.
But, the pollsters say, Republicans also have perception problems that could limit their potential gains.
“We know more about the challenges facing President Obama in the next two years of his term than how this year’s congressional elections will play out in the next six months,” said Fred Yang, the Democratic pollster.
According to the survey, 45 percent of registered voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, versus 43 percent who want a GOP-held one.
Thirty-four percent say their vote will be a signal of opposition to Obama, and 24 percent say it will be a signal of support; 41 percent say it won’t signal anything about the president.
Yet while Obama is unpopular in the poll, he looks like the homecoming king compared with the Republican Party.
Just 29 percent of respondents have a favorable view of the GOP, versus 45 percent who have an unfavorable view. (By comparison, the Democratic Party’s fav/unfav rating is 38 percent positive, 40 percent negative.)
Exclusive: Obama Defends Taliban Prisoner SwapNIGHTLY NEWS
Views of the Tea Party are even worse, with 22 percent seeing it in a favorable light and 41 percent in a negative one.
And one week after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his congressional primary to a Tea Party challenger, the NBC/WSJ poll finds a divided Republican Party.
A majority of Republicans who are Tea Party supporters (56 percent) say the Tea Party has too little influence inside the party, while a plurality of Republicans who aren’t supporters (41 percent) say it has too much influence.
Dissatisfaction with everyone in Washington
Indeed, if there is one pervasive theme from the poll, it’s dissatisfaction – with everyone in Washington.
Only 32 percent of voters say their member of Congress deserves to be re-elected, compared with 57 percent who want to give a new person a chance.
And just 25 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction.
This is the ninth-straight NBC/WSJ poll over the past year when 30 percent of the nation or less has had a positive attitude about the nation’s direction.
Other findings
After the Obama administration announced new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, 57 percent say they approve of a proposal that would require companies to reduce greenhouse gases that cause global warming, even if it leads to higher energy costs for consumers. A combined 61 percent believe that global climate change requires either “immediate action” to combat it or “some action.” By contrast, 37 percent say that the country doesn’t know enough about global climate change, or that concern about it is unwarranted. Six-in-10 say the problems associated with Veterans Affairs hospitals are due to longstanding bureaucratic issues; just 14 percent say they’re due to poor management by the Obama administration. Fifty-nine percent oppose closing the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects – up seven points since 2009. And only 27 percent say the Afghanistan war was worth it – down 13 points from a year ago.
Challenges is “dog whistle” for Disasters.
The question I’m beginning to ask is, who is going to play the part of Brutus, politically?
The Democrat machine got itself into this mess, and by golly it just may get itself out of it too, if Obama’s figures go much lower.
What a sight it would be, the Democrats outing this guy for everything. Folks already know it anyway. Come clean Democrats.
You may just have a chance in 2016 if you do. Otherwise, ouch!
The other 46 percent couldn't care less. All that matters is that they get their cash from the stash and other free stuff.
What foreign policy?
At this point, what difference does it make. He has two more years to destroy this country and no one will step forward to stop him in any meaningful way.
You beat me to it. . . . .
Since a great percentage of Americans are totally uninformed I have my doubts about this article.
time for a military incursion somewhere..
There is no military, therefore no military incursion.
The effort of which you speak will be made by a gaggle of Lawyers led by a US Marshall
GMTA.
You can bet the wording was made to get as positive a result as possible.
Pray America is waking up
Saudi Arabia's
Obama’s scorched earth will leave democrats outside the power structure on national politics for at least several election cycles. Which is perhaps why Hillary has decided to veer right away from Hussein.
Or a mock arrest...
If the GOP has half a brain, it will be a landslide this November and 2 years hence.
Obama does have a foreign policy, and it's consistant. It's to arm people who express a desire to cause revolutions against leaders the US ruling ptb don't like, either for perceived US interests (usually global banking and energy interests), what Saudi Arabia wants, or because Obama decides he doesn't like someone (personal vendetta).
The problem is that it's a really, really dumb idea. The people who have been armed benefit from destabilized government or if they're US-friendly leaders we prop up, they've proven to be in it for personal gain.
Now we've got armed and trained-by-the-US maniacs run amuck over huge portions of the civilized world using our weapons for their agenda and Obama still still trying to topple or undermine many of the leaders who could stop the chaos. All of this while he allows invaders to further inundate the US and wanting to disarm law-abiding US citizens.
Add to this that US policies are opening old wounds among neighboring countries. There are entangling alliances all over the globe. Obama's taking sides even where there are no alliances. I can't imagine how it ends well.
Correct me please, where I've got it wrong.
I know the actions he takes and the consequences. On that you are accurate. But as for a true foreign policy he does the opposite of what he says he will do. Sort of like his domestic policy.
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