New York Turns Negative on Obama

The evidence continues to mount that President Barack Obama’s re-election bid is in trouble. The latest news: a Quinnipiac University poll showing that 49 percent of New York State voters disapprove of his job performance, compared to 45 percent who approve.

That’s the first time Obama has registered a negative differential between his approval and disapproval ratings in the heavily Democratic state. And the result represents a sharp drop from late June, when the president had a 57 percent approval rating and a 38 percent disapproval rating in the state.

Among Republicans disapproval totals 86 percent, compared to 10 percent approval, and among independents disapproval totals 58 percent, compared to 36 percent approval. Among Democrats, approval outstrips disapproval by 75 to 19 percent, but even that represents a sharp decrease from the 82 to 12 percent margin in June.

Republican disapproval totaled 74 percent in June, compared to 23 percent approval. And independents have actually reversed: in June, 49 percent of voters expressed approval for Obama, compared to 45 percent who voiced disapproval.

As for whether Obama deserves re-election, 48 percent said yes, while 46 percent said no, a gap that stands within the poll’s 2.4 percentage point margin of error. That’s a sharp drop from Obama’s favorable 56 to 39 percent margin in June.

To be sure, voters chose Obama over a generic Republican 49 percent to 34 percent. But that margin plunged too – from 53-30 percent in June.

"The debt ceiling hullaballoo devastated President Barack Obama's numbers even in true blue New York," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in comments accompanying the poll. "He just misses that magic 50 percent mark against a no-name Republican challenger."