Obama Gets Middling Marks on What He Has Accomplished at Home

Americans are divided on how much President Obama has accomplished during his first nine months in office with 50 percent saying "not much" or "little or nothing" while 49 percent saying a "great deal: or "good amount," according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Oct. 15-18.

The public still trusts Obama to make the right decisions for the country's future more than congressional Democrats and far more than congressional Republicans, but their opinions on him is divided there, too, with 50 percent saying of him "just some" or "none at all" while 49 percent say a "great deal" or "good amount."

They don't trust the Hill Democrats on that question by a 64 percent to 34 percent margin and they don't have faith in the Republicans by 79 percent to 19 percent.

Obama gets middling marks on how Americans rate him on domestic issues. Fifty percent approve his handling of the economy compared to 48 percent who don't, an equal number (48 percent) approve or disapprove of his handling of health care, and 51 percent disapprove of his handling of the federal deficit compared to 45 percent who approve. The margin of error is 3 points.

He does better on foreign issues with 57 percent approving of how he does his duties as commander-in-chief, 57 percent approving of his handling of international affairs, 52 percent of his handling of the situation with Iran and 54 percent of his winning of the Nobel prize.

On health care reform, 48 percent oppose the changes to the system being developed by Obama and the Congress compared to 45 percent who support it. That's about the same in this poll last month. Americans support the idea of the government creating a health insurance plan to compete with private insurers by 57 percent to 40 percent.

On the thorny issue of whether to tax the most expensive health insurance policies to help pay for reform - something that has been opposed by Obama's allies in organized labor - 61 percent are against raising those taxes while 35 percent support doing so.

When it comes to Iran, Americans favor direct diplomatic talks between the U.S. and that country on the nuclear issue by 82 percent to 17 percent but they oppose by 62 percent to 33 percent invading Iran to overturn its government. Seventy-eight percent favor economic sanctions to force Iran's hand while 67 percent oppose offering Iran economic incentives to abandon a nuclear weapons program.