Even the Poor Are Abandoning Obama, According to Gallup Poll Data

By Terence P. Jeffrey

President Barack Obama returns to the
White House, Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, after touring
a local sign factory where he talked about
creating more jobs.

In every week of his presidency until now, Barack Obama has enjoyed a majority approval rating in the Gallup Poll from people earning less than $2,000 per month. But that changed in the Gallup survey conducted from Aug. 2-8, when only 49 percent of Americans in that income bracket said they approve of the job Obama is doing.

This marks the first time since Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, when Americans in all four of the income brackets reported in Gallup’s weekly survey of presidential approval gave Obama less than 50 percent approval.

For the week of Aug. 2-Aug. 8, only 42 percent of Americans earning $7,500 per month or more said they approve of the job Obama is doing. Forty-four percent of those earning between $5,000 and $7,499 said they approve of the job he is doing. And forty-six percent of those earning between $2,000 and $4,999 said they approve of the job he is doing.

The higher the income bracket an American occupies, the sooner he or she was likely to stop approving of the job Obama was doing and the more likely he or she was to stop approving of the job Obama was doing.

The last time Obama had majority approval from people earning $7,500 or more per month was the week of April 19-25. The last time Obama had majority approval from people earning $5,000 to $7,499 was the week of May 3-9. The last time Obama had majority approval from people earning $2,000 to $4,999 was the week May 10-16. And the last time Obama had majority approval from people earning less than $2,000 was the week of July 26-Aug. 1.

Obama’s approval peaked at 76 percent among Americans earning less than $2,000 per month in the weeks of April 20-26, 2009 and May 4-10, 2009.

In May 2009, when Obama's approval rating was at its peak among those earning less than $2,000 per month, the national unemployment rate was at 9.4 percent. It is now at 9.5 percent.

In a poll released today, Gallup asked Americans that they thought was the most important problem facing the country. The top two problems cited were the economy in general and unemployment and jobs. Thirty percent said the economy in general was the most important problem, while 28 percent said it was unemployment and jobs.

The third ranking problem in the poll was dissatisfaction with government, Congress and politicians, which was rated as the most important problem by 12 percent of respondents.