Poll: President Obama's Approval Is Up, But Just 38 Percent Approve of His Handling of Health Care

President Obama’s approval rating inched up in the latest
Reason-Rupe poll, but public approval of his handling of health
care remains low. 

The December
Reason-Rupe national telephone poll of 1,011 Americans
finds 47 percent approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his
job as president, up four points from our
September poll, while 50 percent disapprove of his job
performance. These numbers are similar to President GeorgeBush’s
approval ratings at a similar point in his presidency when
52 percent disapproved and 43 percent approved.

However, only 38 percent of approve of the president’s handling
of health care, while 57 disapprove.

While young people under 35 remain slightly positive Obama’s
general job performance (51% approve, 45% disapprove), 54 percent
disapprove of how the president is handling health care, while 38
percent approve. In fact a divide emerges among young people. Those
aged 25-34 who were key to Obama’s initial success in 2008, have
turned particularly negative toward the president’s handling of
health care: 61 percent disapprove while only 33 approve.
Conversely, younger millennials, between 18-24 are evenly
divided.

Under the Affordable Care Act,
many expect younger Americans to pay higher premiums to subsidize
the care of older, less healthy Americans. Moreover, those over 26
can no longer stay on their parents’ health insurance plans
exposing more of them to premium hikes. These factors have likely
fueled disapproval over health care.

Americans are feeling slightly more positive about the direction
the country is heading, although the latest Reason-Rupe poll finds
optimism is still quite low. Just over a third of Americans, 35
percent, believes the country is headed in the right direction, up
seven points from 28 percent in Reason-Rupe’s
September poll.

Four out of five Americans still disapprove of the job lawmakers
are doing in Congress, similar to findings in the September
poll.

Neither of the two major parties is spared from voters’ strong
disapproval. When asked which party, Democrats or Republicans, they
would prefer have a majority in Congress after the next
congressional elections, 36 percent of Americans said neither.
Thirty-three percent of Americans would prefer Democrats to control
Congress after the 2014 elections and 27 percent would prefer that
Republicans control Congress.

Nationwide telephone poll conducted Dec 4-8 2013 interviewed
1011 adults on both mobile (506) and landline (505) phones, with a
margin of error +/- 3.7%. Princeton Survey Research Associates
International executed the nationwide Reason-Rupe survey. Columns
may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Full poll results,
detailed tables, and methodology found here. Sign
up for notifications of new releases of the Reason-Rupe
poll here.