Zogby Interactive: Obama Regains Majority Job Approval at 52%

Recent Actions Give Obama Boost Among Democrats & Independents

UTICA, New York - For the first time since early June, President Barack Obama's job performance receives majority approval in a Zogby Interactive poll of likely voters. A Sept. 25-28 interactive survey of 4,183 found 52% of likely voters approving, 47% disapproving and 1% undecided.

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Obama picked up 10 points in his approval rating since his low point of 42%-48% on August 31. At that time, Obama's approval was down among groups that were key to his election.

Both Republicans and conservatives continue to rate Obama's performance as poor. In the Sept. 28 survey, only 10% of Republicans and 6% of conservatives indicated they somewhat or strongly approve of Obama's performance.

The poll also found that:

* Overall, 53% of likely voters view Obama favorably, including 49% of Independents.
* On a four-point scale measuring Obama's job performance, 26% say excellent, 21% good, 11% fair and 41% poor. Combing the two highest and lowest ratings on this scale to determine job approval, this ranking gives Obama 47% approval and 52% disapproval.
* 42% of likely voters say the nation is headed in the right direction, and 47% say it's off on the wrong track. This is a small improvement from the Aug. 31 poll, when 38% chose right direction and 53% wrong track.
* 54% are proud to have Obama as President, and 34% are ashamed, a result that has remained steady over the summer.

Pollster John Zogby: "Like a baseball team that goes into an August swoon and regroups for a September pennant drive, Obama appears to have put a dismal August behind him. Now, he needs to keep his Democratic team focused on passing a healthcare reform bill that satisfies the party's base, as well as swing voters. If that can be done, then Obama will have restored the political capital he will need to deal with the economy, Afghanistan and climate change legislation."

This survey, conducted by Zogby International, has a sample size of 4,183 likely voters. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the US, was invited to participate. Slight weights were added region, party, age, race, religion, gender, education to more accurately reflect the population. The margin of error is +/- 1.5 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

*The June 1 question on Obama's job approval used a four-point scale of excellent, good, fair and poor. Zogby International combined the excellent and good responses to determine an aggregate approval percentage. In all of the other surveys listed in the table, the question asked voters whether they approved or disapproved of Obama's job performance.

Source: Zogby