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Poll: Obama underwater with voters on handling of the economy
A plurality of voters disapprove of President Obama's handling of the economy ahead of his State of the Union address, according to a new poll.
Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they were disappointed with how Obama has handled economic issues in a CBS News survey released Monday. By contrast, 45 percent of respondents said they approve of how the president is handling the economy.
Those numbers come as Obama prepares a State of the Union address that advisers have indicated will be heavily focused on economic themes.
"You will hear in the president's State of the Union an outline from him for his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday, adding that the "core emphasis" would be "the need to make the economy work for the middle class."
But a closer look at the numbers betray a sharp partisan divide. While only 12 percent of Republicans approve of Obama's handling of his job as president, 86 percent of Democrats do. That's likely why voters are less-than-optimistic about bipartisan cooperation over the next four years. While 17 percent predict more cooperation between the parties, 22 percent expect less, and 58 believe the level of cooperation will remain unchanged.
The president does garner bipartisan support on one issue in the headlines of late: his use of drone strikes. Of those surveyed, 57 percent approve of the president's handing of terrorism, and seven in 10 say they favor using drone strikes against foreign terrorists. A plurality — 49 percent — also support the administration's policy of targeting Americans abroad who are suspected of carrying out terrorist activities against the United States. Thirty-eight percent oppose the practice.
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