Fargo Phantom, ND — President Barack Obama’s overall job approval rating has been highly stable since mid-February, averaging 62% since Feb. 16, as well as in the most recent week, from March 30 through April 5.
Still enjoying a honeymoon period, Obama’s approval rating has fallen only slightly from its 67% starting point even as he has outlined an ambitious agenda that has been controversial to some with regard to the costs to taxpayers and the proposed expansion of the federal government’s role in the economy.
So far, Obama’s actions have served to turn off only a rather limited number of Republicans. He began his term with a 41% approval rating among Republicans — not outstanding but certainly healthy when juxtaposed against the largely single-digit approval ratings for George W. Bush among Democrats in the last year and a half of his presidency.
Obama’s approval rating among Republicans declined rather quickly in the weeks after his inauguration and was 27% this past week. So even though he still claims a substantial minority of Republicans as supporters, this group is about one-third smaller than at the outset of his presidency.
Meanwhile, Obama’s approval ratings among Democrats and independents have been highly stable. Last week’s averages of 90% approval from Democrats and 60% from independents nearly match the averages for his presidency to date.O