By JEFF ZELENY and DALIA SUSSMAN
Published: January 18, 2012
President Obama opens his re-election bid facing significant obstacles among independent voters, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with the critical piece of the electorate that cemented his victory four years ago open to denying him a second term.
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
A majority of voters feel President Obama has not dealt adequately with economic problems.
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As Mr. Obama moves toward a full-throated campaign, delivering a State of the Union address on Tuesday and inching closer to directly confronting his Republican challenger, a majority of independent voters have soured on his presidency, disapprove of how he has dealt with the economy and do not have a clear idea of what he hopes to accomplish if re-elected.
The swing voters who will play a pivotal role in determining his political fate are up for grabs, the poll found, with just 31 percent expressing a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama. Two-thirds of independent voters say he has not made real progress fixing the economy.
The president, mindful of the headwinds facing him, begins his first major television advertising campaign on Thursday in a handful of battleground states. His targets include independent voters, who the poll found also hold deep skepticism of Republicans.
While Republican primary voters say Mitt Romney stands the best chance of defeating Mr. Obama, nearly half of independents say they have yet to form an opinion of him, creating a considerable opening for Democrats to try to quickly define him if he becomes the nominee.
As Mr. Romney and his rivals fight to win the South Carolina primary on Saturday, the poll suggests that Republicans have grown less satisfied with their choices. Nearly 7 in 10 Republican voters across the country said they now want more options, a probable reflection of conservative unease about Mr. Romney and the remaining candidates.
But with 10 months remaining until Election Day and the lines of argument coming into view, voters are evenly divided in a matchup between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney. The president does better against the other Republican candidates.
A glimmer of hope may be on the horizon for Mr. Obama, though, as the economy appears to be generating more jobs. The poll found that 28 percent of the public says the economy is getting better, which is the biggest sense of optimism found in a Times/CBS News poll since last February.
But Mr. Obama, whose job approval rating remains essentially frozen in the 40s, has considerable work to do rebuilding the coalition of voters who sent him to the White House. Independent voters have concerns about Mr. Obama on a variety of measures, including 6 in 10 who say the president does not share their priorities for the country.
“I trusted Obama would bring fresh ideas to the country and improve the economy, even though he was not experienced. It didn’t happen,” said Jay Hernandez, 54, a credit manager from Miami who said that he is not aligned with either party, in a follow-up interview. “If there were another Democratic candidate I might reconsider, but I won’t vote for Barack Obama.”
With the president preparing to address a joint session of Congress next week, which will also be an opportunity to outline his accomplishments to the nation, the poll found that 38 percent of all voters view him favorably, 45 percent unfavorably, and 17 percent have no opinion. The speech will be a chance to draw further distinctions with Congress, whose approval rating remains near record lows of 13 percent.
When asked whom they trust, the poll found that Mr. Obama has an advantage over Congressional Republicans in making the right decisions about creating jobs, health care,Medicare and Social Security. Yet the gap narrows on the economy — the chief concern among voters — with 44 percent of Americans saying they trust Mr. Obama and 40 percent saying they trust Republicans in Congress.
The public is evenly split on whom they trust to deal with the budget deficit, which the poll found to be the public’s second most important issue.
But Americans are also far more apt to blame Republicans than the president for failing to find common ground and passing legislation. An overwhelming number of Americans support compromise over sticking to positions. A majority of people say Mr. Obama is trying to work with Republicans in order to get things done, while two-thirds say Republicans in Congress are not trying to work with Mr. Obama.
“I’m not saying Obama hasn’t done anything good, and maybe it’s not fair to blame him or the administration, but I just think there were more expectations for an improvement on economic issues,” said Elaine Vignali, 60, a homemaker and independent voter from Uniontown, Pa. She added that she was deeply frustrated, declaring: “To be honest, if I had to vote today I wouldn’t vote.”
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