Is Obama's Approval Rating Really So Low

11/20/2009, by Proloy Bhatta

HIGHLIGHTS

• Fox Obama: Approve 46%, Disapprove 46%.
• Quinnipiac Obama: Approve 48%, Disapprove 42%.
• But the averages of four other pollsters: Approve 55%, Disapprove 41%.

According to Fox News, their latest poll has Obama's approval rating at 46%.

First, let's look at the Fox poll trends.

We can clearly see Obama's poll numbers slipping a bit.

This slipping trend is similarly measured by Quinnipiac University which recently found Obama's approval rating to be just 48%.

Obama's approval rating barely gets above 50% if at all since August ... despite the fact that other pollsters have measured higher poll numbers.

The one glaring similarity between Quinnipiac and Fox News is that their polls are measuring registered voters instead of the general adult audience.

Let's do the comparison between the polls for registered voters and adults nationwide.

Obama's approval rating is 8% lower among registered voters than it is among all adults. At first glance, it does appear as though registered voters are more critical of Obama's job performance than the average adult but our small sample size makes it inconclusive.

Other key points from their poll: Obama's favorable rating is at 54%, Pelosi at 28%.