A newly released Gallup poll conducted June 5-6, finds that more Americans disapprove than approve of President Obama’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Only 40 percent approve of how the president is handling the spill, a figure that trails the 47 percent overall job approval rating.
Gallup Poll: Although Democrats are in both cases the most approving and Republicans the least approving, Democrats’ approval on the oil spill falls off the most: 13 percentage points, compared with 8 points among independents. In contrast, Republicans are 4 percentage points more positive about Obama’s handling of the oil spill than about his overall job performance — though both of their ratings are very low.
Two weeks ago, 53% of Americans called Obama’s efforts in responding to the spill “very poor” or “poor,” while 60% said the same about the federal government more broadly and 73% about BP. As the oil spill has continued, so has the criticism that Obama has not done enough to mitigate the disaster. The White House has been working aggressively to address such criticism, sending Obama to the region several times and attempting to convey command of the situation. However, with oil still spewing from the Deepwater Horizon drilling site, the public has been left watching and waiting for better news for nearly seven weeks. Gallup has not yet asked a second time about Obama’s, the federal government’s, and BP’s handling of the spill, and the current survey marks the first time Gallup has measured “approval” of Obama’s handling of it.
