President Obama saw his approval rating climb a bit since the end of 2013, but at the same time the number of Americans rooting for his policies to fail have grown.
A CNN/ORC International survey showed that 45 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, up from 41 percent in the same poll in November and December. The number that disapprove of the job Obama is doing has fallen from 56 percent at the end of last year to 50 percent in the most recent poll.
But while his approval rating is going up, Obama also saw confidence in his policies plummet. The poll indicated that the number of Americans who want his policies to succeed dropped 12 points since last year to 58 percent, leaving a growing number to predict and hope that things like Obamacare will fail.
“That’s a solid majority but nowhere near the 70% last January who wanted Obama’s presidency to be a success. One-third of all Americans, and three-quarters of all Republicans we questioned, say they hope Obama’s policies will fail,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said .
Obama saw his approval rating rise slightly after the State of the Union speech, Holland noted.
Other pollisters noted little effect from the speech, however.
“In the two national polls released since the speech — daily tracking polls from Gallup and Rasmussen Reports — the president’s approval ratings barely budged after three full nights of post-speech polling,” noted Steven T. Dennis of Roll Call . “Gallup had the president at 41 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval before the speech. Post-speech polling released Saturday found Obama at 42 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval — essentially unchanged. In Rasmussen’s polling, the president went from 48 percent approving and 51 percent disapproving before the speech to 48 percent/50 percent Saturday.”
Overall, Obama has seen his approval rating fall steadily for several months, after his approval and disapproval number stood at almost 47 percent each in May 2013.
