Most Americans unhappy with Obama’s approach on country’s most divisive issues

NEW YORK - Americans are largely unhappy with how President Barack Obama is handling the most divisive issues in the country, an ominous sign for Democrats hoping to retain control of Congress in the fall elections, according to a new GfK Poll.

According to The New York Post, a majority of Americans voiced strong opposition to Obama’s work with regard to the economy, unemployment, federal deficits and terrorism.

They were about evenly split over his efforts on five issues and strongly approved of his direction on just one: the U.S’. relationships with other countries.

Most Americans, extremely concerned about ten of the issues, have said they will vote for the Republican candidate in their local House race. Only those highly interested in the environment leaned toward the Democrats.

By a three-to-one margin, more of highly opinionated people strongly disapproved of the president’s effort on the economy. More strongly disapproved of Obama’s actions by a 2-to-1 ratio on unemployment, 2-1 on health care, 6-1 on the deficit and 2-1 on terrorism. His performance on Afghanistan, taxes, immigration and gas prices also drew strong disapproval.

The only issue where most did not strongly disapprove of Obama’s work was education, on which they were closely divided. They were also split over his handling of energy, Iraq, the environment and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Republicans with the strongest opinions were overwhelmingly critical of Obama on most issues, while the fiercest Democrats were usually solidly supportive.

Seventy-nine percent of the Republicans strongly disapproved of Obama’s efforts on the economic issue and one percent strongly approved. The margin was much narrower among Democrats: 27 percent strongly approved while 16 percent strongly disapproved.

Looking at Independents who considered an issue extremely or very important, more strongly disapproved than strongly approved of Obama’s handling of 12 of the 15 issues. This included mostly negative views of Obama from independents on 10 of the 11 issues most frequently cited by people as important, including the economy, unemployment and health care. (ANI)