In sharp contrast to his self-assessment of a solid B+, Americans give President Obama a C grade for his overall performance for the first year of his term. However, he consistently gets lower grades on policy issues.
The president also fares poorly on domestic issues as compared to foreign affairs, showing particular weakness in economy-related issues.
These are the key findings from the latest IBD/TIPP poll of 923 Americans completed Jan. 9. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
What are the implications?
First, Democratic politicians misinterpreted Obama's victory in 2008 as a broad mandate for sweeping liberal policy, not realizing that expectations of Americans were far different. This puts Democrats seeking re-election this year in peril. Look no further than the generational races in New Jersey and Virginia and the close race fought in Massachusetts.
Second, due to the president's fading cache with the voters, Democratic politicians will have to stand on their own and cannot expect Obama to secure their re-election.
Third, his weakness in policy issues sets a downward trajectory of overall approval, and a significant reversal is not imminent especially on economy-related issues in a wobbly economy.
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