Obama Approval Ratings Hold, Those of Hill Leaders Plummet

President Obama's overall job approval rating stands at 52 percent, and 50 percent or more of Americans expressed confidence in his handling of a range of key issues. But, on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, approval ratings for congressional leaders have plummeted, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted Sept. 30 - Oct. 4.

Compared to the 52 percent who approve of the job Obama is doing, 36 percent disapprove. That's a drop from the 55 percent to 33 percent approval rating Obama had last month, and is the lowest in the Pew poll since February.

Looking at specific issues, Americans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence that Obama will do the right thing on the economy (59 percent to 39 percent); on dealing with the threat of terrorism (58 percent to 38 percent); on dealing with Iran (51 percent to 44 percent); on dealing with Afghanistan (50 percent to 45 percent) and on health care reform (50 percent to 48 percent). The margin of error is 3 points.

Americans disapprove of the job being done by congressional leaders by 53 percent to 33 percent, a big drop from June when the disapproval ratio was 45 percent to 42 percent, and even bigger compared to March when 47 percent approved to 35 percent who did not.

Democrats approve of congressional leaders by 57 percent to 30 percent, but even that is a big fall-off from the 71 percent-to-18 percent ratio in June. Independents disapprove of congressional leaders by 60 percent to 24 percent and Republicans by 76 percent to 12 percent. The change in the latter two was most pronounced with independents who, in June, disapproved of congressional leaders by a lesser 53 percent to 33 percent.