More details, from the Field Poll:
Most of the recent decline in Obama’s approval has occurred among subgroups of voters who had been among Obama’s strongest supporters in prior polls. For example, there has been a nine percentage point decline in the way Democratic voters view the President. In early June 76% of California Democrats approved of the President’s performance in office. That has dropped to 68 % in the current poll.
Over the same period there has been little change among Republicans, with about eight in ten continuing to disapprove of Obama. Other subgroups where Obama’s approval ratings have declined by large margins include voters in Los Angeles County (-11 points), Central Valley voters (-11 points), voters who have a post graduate education (-11 points), Asian Americans (-10 points), middle-of-the-road voters (-9 points) and voters age 30 -39 (-9 points), voters age 50 -64 (-9 points), San Francisco Bay Area voters (-7 points) and strong liberals (-7 points).
KQED's Ted Goldberg talked this morning to Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo about the latest numbers.
"What’s problematic for Obama is that for his base supporters, he really doesn’t have a lot to show for them," DiCamillo said. "He did pass the health reform law, which was very popular among Democrats, but really that’s the only major piece of legislation. I think people are starting to get a little impatient. They’re probably not going to be seeing lots of the Democratic agenda enacted with this president, and I think that’s affecting some evaluatons."
Goldberg asked whether a second-term decline in California was typical for presidents. DiCamillo said approval for the last two presidents, at least, moved in opposite directions.
"George W. Bush started out not very popular in California, but after the 9/11 attacks, there was a big rallying around the president and his approval rating shot up. And then following that, it declined again.
"Bill Clinton was just the reverse. He got mixed job performance ratings early in his tenure; the economy was not doing too well. But as he got through his tenure, the economy got stronger and stronger and his approval ratings at the end ... were better than at the beginning."
DiCamillo said circumstances that might cause a bounce in approval for Obama have yet to occur.
"Some other presidents have had a rallying event around they can bring back approval, a rebound. But it hasn’t happened during this president’s tenure."
Another poll on immigration and what executive action voters would like Obama to take independently of Congress will be released tomorrow morning.
