Poll: LIers knock Obama on economy, other issues

President Barack Obama, nearing the end of his second year in office, remains personally popular on Long Island despite receiving poor grades for his handling of the economy and other key issues, a Newsday/Siena College Research Institute Poll found.

Obama was viewed favorably by 51 percent of the 1,001 registered voters surveyed earlier this month, while 43 percent had an unfavorable view of him. That's a deterioration from a year ago when the Democrat's favorability rating was 56-40.

In the recent poll, his standing was weaker among voters likely to cast ballots in the November midterm elections. Forty-seven percent viewed the president favorably while 48 percent had an unfavorable view.

However, both groups of voters were dissatisfied with his attempts to combat the recession, overhaul health care and win the war in Afghanistan, among other issues.

Venting on the economy

On the economy, nearly 70 percent of registered voters called Obama's performance poor or fair and only 32 percent said it was good or excellent.

"I was hopeful when I voted for [Obama], but things haven't improved," said Jacob Weiss, 67, a retired state worker from Dix Hills. "My son's been out of work for six months and may have to move out of state to get a job . . . Everything seems to be going wrong."

Rosemary Simpson, 49, of Wantagh agreed, saying the federal stimulus plan had failed to lower unemployment. "Barack Obama has bailed out the banks, the manufacturers of cars . . . What about the regular people? We're the ones who drive the economy and he's done nothing for us," said the homemaker who backed Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential race.

Similar opinions were expressed by other poll respondents interviewed Friday. They also mirror the findings of national surveys, according to Siena pollster Don Levy.

"Long Island is surprisingly typical of the United States as a whole. Voters like Obama the man but disapprove of his policies," said Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute, based in Loudonville, near Albany.

Locally, Obama does best with Democrats, women and minorities, including African-Americans, who give him a 92 percent approval rating. Those on the fence are men, households earning $100,000 to $150,000 a year and voters not registered with a political party. He does worst with whites and Republicans, 69 percent of whom have an unfavorable view.

Regional gap seen in poll

There is a regional gap as well. Obama's favorable/unfavorable rating is 53 percent to 41 percent in Suffolk County and 48-46 in Nassau County. In the 2008 election, he received more than 50 percent of the vote in each county and carried the Island 53-47 over McCain.

Levy and others said voter attitudes about Obama have been impacted by his successful push for health care reform and the sputtering economy.

While always skeptical about the health care law, voters now are split on whether it should be implemented or repealed. And 56 percent said Obama has done a poor or fair job tackling health care while 42 percent said a good or excellent job.

"Obama appears to have used up a fair amount of his personal popularity on a health care initiative that people now say he didn't handle well," Levy said. "It looks like he should have made the economy his signature issue, not health care."

On the economy, 55 percent of voters endorse a White House proposal for a second, $50-billion stimulus package to employ construction workers on road and bridge projects. Thirty-eight percent oppose it.

Worst rating on immigration

Obama received poor marks for his handling of the Afghanistan war and immigration reform. His worst showing was on immigration: more than 70 percent said he had done a poor or fair job while only 22 percent said a good or excellent job.

Still, some polling experts discounted the ratings, saying voters' frustration with the economy had influenced opinions about other matters.

"A lot of these specific issues right now are affected by a sort of economic malaise," said Helmut Norpoth, a politics professor at Stony Brook University who studies public opinion. "People are not seeing the economy pick up and that rubs off on their attitudes about immigration and the war."

Norpoth and Levy both downplayed the claim by 59 percent of voters that their choices in House and Senate races would not be affected by whether the candidates agree or disagree with Obama.

"People don't like to admit they are influenced by anything," Norpoth said. "But I'm sure if you changed your mind about the president, then you will look at some of these races differently."