Poll: Obama hits lowest approval

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is at the lowest level of his presidency, a new poll says.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday, 40 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, the lowest score the poll has recorded since he took office. His rating is down 1 point from September.


The survey comes less than a month out from the November midterm elections. A large number of Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates on the campaign trail have been distancing themselves from the White House.

( Also on POLITICO: Supreme Court leaves mark on midterms)

Among independent voters, Obama’s approval rating stands at 33 percent.

Forty-four percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of economic issues, compared with 51 percent who disapprove, his lowest disapproval level in more than a year.

But the president’s approval rating on his handling of the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has plunged in less than a month. Thirty-five percent of Americans approve of his handling of the threat from ISIL, the terrorist group that the U.S. has conducted airstrikes against in Iraq and Syria. His net negative 16-point rating on ISIL is down 22 points from the end of September, when 50 percent of Americans approved of his handling of ISIL.

( See more from POLITICO's Polling Center)

The survey was conducted Oct. 9-12 with 1,006 adults on landlines and cellphones. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 points.

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This article tagged under: Barack Obama

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