Obama rating drops below 50%. Public more optimistic.

Those Saying U.S. Headed in Right Direction Continue to Increase, Now 45% — However, Obama’s Job Performance Drops Under 50%
By Zogby,

UTICA, NY – A March 20-23 Zogby Interactive survey shows 45% of likely voters believe the nation is headed in the right direction, a gain of five points from a similar survey completed on March 5. At the beginning of the year, only 14% held that positive view.

However, President Barack Obama’s ratings for job performance and favorability did not improve over earlier this month. In the most recent survey, 49% rate his job performance as excellent or good and 50% as fair or poor (less than 1% were not sure.) That is a dip of three points from the previous poll. The percentages who feel very or somewhat favorable toward Obama remained unchanged between the two polls, with 55% now and 56% in the previous poll.

There are still huge partisan differences in opinions about Obama. For example, 91% of Democrats rate Obama favorably, compared to 14% of Republicans. On Obama’s job performance, 87% of Democrats grade it as excellent or good, compared to 9% of Republicans.

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