Obama approval ratings down amid political flaps
President Barack Obama walks off the Marine One helicopter before boarding Air Force One before leaving O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Obama’s approval ratings took a hit over the past month, a poll showed Thursday. AP PHOTO/PAUL BEATY
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama’s approval ratings took a hit over the past month as he wrestled with controversies over the IRS, Benghazi and the secret seizure of journalists’ phone records, a poll showed Thursday.
The Quinnipiac poll found that 49 percent of those surveyed had a negative opinion of Obama’s job performance while 45 percent approved.
Those numbers were the near inverse of a poll on May 1 that found 48 percent approved of the job he was doing, while 45 percent did not.
The erosion in support tracked with a series of political tempests that have put Obama on the defensive on a variety of fronts.
The Internal Revenue Service, which collects US taxes, admitted May 10 that it had inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny conservative Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status.
The administration’s handling of the September 11 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya also was back in the news, with a leak of internal e-mails and congressional hearings.
Republicans have long accused the administration of deliberately playing down the attack, which killed four Americans including the ambassador, initially portraying it as a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim video.
The administration also has been on the defensive over revelations that the Justice Department secretly seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters as part of a leak investigation.
The disclosure that a Fox News reporter’s e-mails also were seized in another leak investigation added fuel to the fire.
Quinnipiac said a majority of those surveyed had a negative opinion of Obama’s handling of all three matters, with 51 percent giving a thumbs down on Benghazi and the IRS, and 55 percent in the AP case.
