McClatchy-Marist poll shows Obama tumbling in voters’ eyes

◼ If President Barack Obama had piled up political capital with his impressive re-election, it’s largely gone. - McClatchy

His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs down on his performance than thumbs up, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. The measure of how much people like him also has dropped.

He’s still vastly more popular than Congress, particularly congressional Republicans. But in the biggest political clash of the year – over the federal budget and how to curb deficits – voters split 44 percent to 42 percent between preferring Congress or Obama.

At least some of the president’s fall to Earth lies in the fact that voters no longer see him in the context of an election. He has to stand alone in the eyes of voters again and doesn’t benefit from the comparison with Republican rival Mitt Romney.

...Another factor in the president’s decline is anxiety about the economy and the country.

Just 34 percent of voters think the country’s heading in the right direction, while 62 percent think it’s headed the wrong way. That’s also the worst since November 2011.

Indeed, despite gains in jobs and the stock markets, voters think by 62-34 percent that the country is still in a recession. Just 22 percent think they’ll be better off in the coming year, while 41 percent think they’ll be about the same and 36 percent think they’ll be worse off.