Gallup: Obama under 50% on Afghanistan, economy, health care, deficit

It’s safe to say that the magic of Barack Obama’s personal appearances have completely worn out with the American public.  A week after his major address to Congress on health care, Gallup shows Obama’s polls sinking, not just overall, but on a range of policies.  In fact, he scores his highest issue rating on Iraq, of all issues, and only at 56%.  On the rest, Obama is heading for the deep end of the pool:

Of the seven specific issue approval ratings measured in a Sept. 11-13 USA Today/Gallup poll, President Obama gets his highest rating (56%) on his handling of Iraq, and his lowest (38%) on the federal deficit. Obama’s approval ratings on handling the economy and healthcare, at 46% and 43%, respectively, are little changed over the past two months.

In the Sept. 11-13 survey, Obama’s overall job approval rating is 54%. Of the seven issues tested, only for Iraq is Obama’s approval rating higher than his overall approval rating. His ratings on five of the issues — energy policy, Afghanistan, the economy, healthcare policy, and the federal budget deficit — are below his overall approval rating, while his rating on handling the environment is identical to his overall rating.

Obama won the election mainly on the economy, with his populist schtick striking a chord during an economic crisis.  He started off his presidency with a 59% approval rating on economics.  It’s now at 46%, with 51% disapproving of his economic policies.

The White House hoped for a “game-changer” on health care with Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress eight days ago.  They got a huge shrug from their survey of adults, which should be the most sympathetic survey type for Obama.  Approval remains at 43%, where it was in mid-August, but disapproval has climbed from 49% to 52%.  People are making up their minds about Obama on health care instead of reconsidering after his speech, and that’s bad news for the White House and Congressional Democrats.

The biggest drop comes from Obama’s handling of the deficit.  He started with a narrow 49%-44% lead on this issue, but has taken a beating since it inverted in the spring.  It’s now a 20-point gap of disapproval, 58%-38%, which directly impacts both the health-care and cap-and-trade debates.

Rasmussen’s tracking poll surveys likely voters, and shows Obama dropping once again after a slight respite after his speech:

Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Fifty-two percent (52%) now disapprove. Over the past week, the President’s ratings bounced to their highest level in two months but have now retreated to earlier levels. …

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 32% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8 (see trends).

Obama’s team has always relied on his ability to woo voters from the stump.  Unfortunately, Obama didn’t even try to woo them with his last speech.  He gave an angry, partisan screed that attempted to draw lines in the sand, but in the end boxed Obama into unpopular positions.  Americans looking to Obama for leadership, post-partisanship, and moderation have become disillusioned after a mere eight months.  The Jedi mind tricks have apparently stopped working, and until Obama begins to abandon his radical agenda, he will continue to decline in the polls.

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