Voters See Obama As More Hurt Than Help in Upcoming Elections

Even Democrats don’t think a campaign visit by President Obama to their state this fall is a good idea for their party's candidates.

Just 22% of Likely U.S. Voters describe Barack Obama’s presidency as a success, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Nearly twice as many (42%) think the Obama presidency has been a failure. Thirty-three percent (33%) rate it somewhere in between. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Interestingly, only 43% of Democrats believe the Obama presidency has been successful, although just 12% think it’s been a failure.

Only 27% of all voters say it would help political candidates in their state if the president came to campaign for them, but 39% say a presidential visit would hurt the candidates instead. Twenty-three percent (23%) say it would have no impact on voters. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

Fewer than half (46%) of voters in his own party think it would help candidates in their state if the president came for a visit. Twenty-one percent (21%) of Democrats say a presidential visit to their state would hurt candidates he came to campaign for. Just as many (22%) say it would have no impact.

But then 42% of voters nationwide say they are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who has supported the president’s agenda. Twenty-eight percent (28%) say they are more likely to vote for a pro-Obama incumbent, while just as many (27%) say a Congress member’s support for the president would have no impact on their vote.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 19-20, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The president’s most significant legislative achievement has been the new national health care law, and voters are almost evenly divided over whether they are more likely or less likely to vote for an Obamacare supporter. But most voters continue to have an unfavorable opinion of the law.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans and a plurality (45%) of voters not affiliated with either major party view Obama’s time in the White House as a failure.

Just nine percent (9%) of GOP voters and 23% of unaffiliateds think a visit by the president would help candidates in their state. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Republicans and 40% of unaffiliated voters say an Obama visit to their state would hurt instead.

Only 51% of Democrats say they are more likely to vote for a member of Congress who has supported his agenda. Fifteen percent (15%) of Democrats say they are less likely to vote for someone who has backed the president. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of GOP voters and 47% of unaffiliateds are less likely to vote for an Obama supporter.

Among all voters nationwide, only 25% think their own member of Congress deserves reelection, the lowest finding in nearly five years. 

Still, while most Republican voters think their representatives in Congress have lost touch with the party’s base over the last several years, most Democrats believe their Congress members have done a good job representing what their party stands for.

Men are more likely than women to consider the Obama presidency a failure. Generally speaking, the older the voter, the more likely he or she is to agree with this assessment of the president.

Forty-three percent (43%) of blacks say the president has been successful, compared to 17% of whites and 32% of other minority voters. Blacks feel much more strongly than the others that a visit by the president to their state would be good for candidates.

The president’s daily job approval rating continues to hover around -20. 

Voters continue to believe cutting taxes and government spending will help the economy, but many still expect the Obama administration to do just the opposite.

Most voters oppose Obama's reported plan to unilaterally grant amnesty to several million illegal immigrants and think Congress should challenge him in court if he goes ahead with it.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters believe that when it comes to dealing with issues the president considers important to the nation, the government should only do what the president and Congress agree on. Thirty-five percent (35%) think Obama should take action alone if Congress does not approve the initiatives he has proposed. When it comes to his executive actions, a plurality (44%) thinks Obama has been less faithful to the U.S. Constitution than most other presidents.

Just 28% think the United States is heading in the right direction.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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