President Obama's Job Rating Shows Small Improvements: Harris Poll

(Newsroom America) -- President Obama's approval ratings have improved slightly with one-third of Americans (34%) give the President positive ratings for the overall job he is doing and two-thirds (66%) give him negative marks.

This is just slightly up from last month's numbers of 33% positive and 67% negative, but they are the best ratings President Obama has seen since mid-summer, according to the Harris Poll of 2,499 adults surveyed online between November 7 and 14, 2011 by Harris Interactive .

Not surprisingly, just 4% of Republicans and 9% of Conservatives give President Obama positive ratings. Among Independents, seven in ten (71%) give him negative ratings as do 63% of Moderates. Among the President's party, while two-thirds of Democrats (66%) give President Obama positive ratings, one-third (34%) give him negative ratings. Liberals feel the same way with 67% giving the President positive marks and 33% giving him negative ratings.

Just over one in five U.S. adults (22%) give him positive marks for the overall job he is doing on the economy while almost four in five (78%) give him negative ratings. This is just slightly down from last month when 23% gave him positive ratings and 77% gave the President negative ratings. And majorities of all parties give President Obama negative ratings on the economy – 96% of Republicans, 85% of Independents and 54% of Democrats.

Congress, however, has less to feel thankful for this holiday season as just 5% of Americans give them positive ratings for the job they are doing while 95% give them negative ratings. This is unchanged since last month and consistent among parties; almost all Republicans (95%), Democrats (95%) and Independents (97%) give Congress negative ratings.

Also unchanged since last month is how people think things are going in the country. Just one in five Americans (20%) say things in the country are going in the right direction while four in five (80%) say things are going off on the wrong track.

This year Thanksgiving marks less than one year until the presidential election. And, if the election for president were to be held today, over half of Americans (53%) would be unlikely to vote to re-elect President Obama, two in five (40%) would be likely to vote for him and 7% are not at all sure. Looking at this by party, nine in ten Republicans (93%) and over half of Independents (57%) would be unlikely to vote for him as would 18% of Democrats.

Looking at what Americans think will happen next November, one-third (32%) think President Obama will be re-elected while less than half (46%) think he will not be re-elected; one-quarter (23%) are not at all sure. Last month, half of Americans (49%) did not think he would be re-elected while three in ten (30%) thought he would be re-elected.

Harris said for the next few months the focus will be on the Republicans as they enter the first primaries and caucuses in January. During that time, as he prepares for the general election, President Obama has some time to shore up his base and make overall inroads with Independents.

"If he doesn't and six months before the election his job ratings are still below 40% positive, winning re-election will be an extremely difficult task."

(C) Newsroom America 2011