WASHINGTON - Public confidence in US president Barack Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Four months before mid-term congressional elections that will define the secondhalf of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, while a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy.
Regard for Mr Obama is still higher than it is for members of Congress, but the gap has narrowed. About seven in 10 registered voters say they lack confidence in Democratic politicians and a similar proportion say so of Republican politicians.
Overall, more than a third of voters polled - 36 per cent - say they have no confidence or only some confidence in the president, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans.
Among independents, this disillusionment is higher still. About two-thirds of all voters say they are dissatisfied with or angry about the way the federal government is working.
Such broad negative sentiments have spurred a potent anti-incumbent mood. Just 26 per cent of registered voters say they are inclined to support their representative in the House this fall; 62 per cent are inclined to look for someone new.
Recent economic developments - a declining stock market, problems in the housing industry and an unemployment report showing only tepid job growth in the private sector - may have bruised the president's ratings.
Just 43 per cent of all Americans now say they approve of the job Mr Obama is doing on the economy, while 54 per cent disapprove. Both are the worst, marginally, of his presidency.
On the question of Mr Obama's leadership, 42 per cent now say they have confidence he will make the right decisions for the country, with 58 saying they do not. At the start of his presidency, about six in 10 expressed confidence in his decision-making.
Mr Obama's overall job-approval rating stands at 50 per cent, with 47 per cent disapproving of the job he is doing. For the first time in his presidency, those who strongly disapprove now significantly outnumber those who strongly approve.
Among those who say they definitely will vote in November, 53 per cent disapprove of the way he is handling his responsibilities.
The president's approval ratings reached a new low among whites, at 40 per cent, with his positive marks dipping under 50 per cent for the first time among white college-educated women.
Mr Obama's overall standing puts him at about the same place Bill Clinton was in the summer of 1994, a few months before Republicans captured the House and Senate in an electoral landslide.
Ronald Reagan was a little lower at this point in 1982, with a 46 per cent to 45 per cent split on his approval ratings. Republicans went on to lose about two dozen seats in the House that autumn.
Of course, Mr Reagan and Mr Clinton subsequently rebounded and went on to win re-election. Obama advisers find some hope from that history, even as the historical record foreshadows Democratic losses this November.
- ( Washington Postservice)