Obama's Poll Numbers Hurting At Home, Too

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 6, 2010 6:30PM

Try as he might, one scale Obama can't seem to tip in his favor lately is his approval rating; Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

We know Obama's approval rating has taken a hit nationally, sinking to the mid-40s recently, but what about here at home in Illinois? It seems a little but not that much better, at least according to a recent Tribune poll. The economy, health care, the oil spill, these factors all seem to be affecting how voters in his home state assess 44's job as we head into the home-stretch before the mid-term election. In the poll of 600 registered Illinois voters conducted within the last two weeks, 51 percent said they approve of the job Obama has done while 39 percent disapproved and 10 percent too busy worrying about how awful the Bears were going to be this season. His approval rating was 62 percent pre-election in 2008 and 59 percent last year in similar polls conducted by the Tribune. Whether or not this translates to a surge in GOP support in the mid-term elections remains to be seen - even as the GOP deals with its own fractious issues thanks to the "rise" of the Tea Party.