Poll: More suburban minorities give Obama poor rating

The upcoming midterm elections could hinge on the erosion of suburban minorities' support for President Barack Obama and Democrats, according to a national poll released Wednesday by Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies.

A significant finding of the poll, "The Damaged Suburbs: Economic Scars in an Election Year," is that minority suburbanites' disapproval of Obama has nearly tripled over the past year - 26 percent disapprove of the president's job performance this year, compared to 9 percent last year.

"What you have are a lot of predominantly white, Democratic members of Congress who were elected in part because of a strong turnout of blacks and Latinos," said Lawrence Levy, the center's dean. "If these voters stay home in two weeks, many of these Democratic candidates are going to lose."

Overall, 48 percent of American suburbanites gave Obama a negative job approval rating, according to the poll. Suburban disapproval of the job Obama is doing is up 8 percent over 2009.

Another finding is that a majority of likely independent swing voters in the suburbs now favor Republicans in the upcoming elections.

The center's fourth national Suburban Poll focuses on suburban life, economic turmoil, politics and the upcoming midterm elections.

"For decades, as the suburbs gained in demographic and political power, the party that has won in suburbia has controlled Congress and the White House," Levy said.

The poll also examined the economy's impact among suburban voters, and found that Democrats are in the worst financial shape, yet the Republicans are the most energized voters about the economy. The amount of suburban residents who say they always live paycheck-to-paycheck is up to 42 percent from 37 percent in 2008.

"From a national perspective, it explodes the myths of wealth and wellness that most people feel about the suburbs," Levy said.

Those who characterized their financial situation as "only fair" was 33 percent in 2010, down from 39 percent in 2009. Yet those with a "poor" financial situation went up to 20 percent, from 15 percent in 2009, according to the poll. Those who rated their finances as positive remained the same at 37 percent.

The poll also delved into current hot topics: 69 percent of suburbanites said it is not appropriate to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks; 51 percent of suburban Americans want troops to pull out of Afghanistan; and 38 percent said the nation's priority should be on border security and enforcement of immigration laws.

The poll is based on phone interviews with 1,549 adults in the continental United States from Sept. 15 to 28.