While as a group, Congress remains unpopular, President Barack Obama’s approval rating has plunged to a minority of 45% who think he is doing a good job. A majority of 48% do not approve of the president’s performance.
The poll shows Mr. Obama with the lowest approval ratings for popularity and his job performance since near the end of 2011.
More troubling for the administration is the poll’s results that show voters split 44% to 42% percent in favor of Congress when it comes to who is best suited to manage the federal budget and curb deficits.
The new McClatchy-Marist poll also revealed a drop in the percentage of people who like the president, with 48% approving and 48% disapproving of him, down from 53-44 in December. It also was the lowest popularity rating since November 2011, when it was 47-49.
In his fifth year as president, Mr. Obama has failed to forge passable budget while his foreign policy has been beset with Middle East failures even as North Korea threatens to nuke the U.S.
Adding to the unpopular president’s political woes is the notion that he has made stricter gun control his priority while presiding over a Justice Department that oversaw the Fast and Furious government gun-running operation that put hundreds of assault weapons in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
While Mr. Obama won his re-election, many Democrats are worried that Obama's poor approval ratings will hurt their chances of being elected in 2014 when more Senate Democrats face elections than Republicans.
Meanwhile, the U.S. federal deficit has increased more than $6 trillion under Mr. Obama even though he campaigned in 2008 with a promise to cut the deficit in half.
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