For the first time in his presidency, President Barack Obama's job performance is disliked by a majority of Americans, according to a new Gallup poll.
According to the Gallup daily tracking poll released on Tuesday, 51 percent of U.S. adults said they disapproved of how Obama was handling his job, compared with 42 percent who approve.
The poll reflects a one-point change from Monday, when Obama's disapproval number hit 50 percent for the first time, according to
The Hill.
The declining poll numbers come as the Obama administration is trying to extract itself from the growing controversy over the so-called ground zero mosque. On Friday night, Obama seemed to endorse the construction of the mosque near the site of the World Trade Center attacks. But over the weekend, he seemed to back off from that endorsement.
GOP leaders were quick to point out the new number to further their argument that Obama is a liability to Democratic candidates in this fall's midterm elections.
Obama appeared at a fundraiser for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday and has campaign events in Ohio and Florida later this week. Obama headlined a fundraiser Monday for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Los Angeles.
The movement in the poll doesn't amount to any sort of seismic shift in public opinion toward Obama, according to The Hill. The Gallup daily tracking poll represents a rolling average of public opinion in the pollster's last three days of opinion surveys.
But there is no dispute that Obama's numbers are steadily becoming more negative. Meanwhile, Republicans are experiencing their widest advantage yet in generic congressional balloting and are feeling increasingly confident.
The latest Gallup poll, conducted August 14-16, has a 3-percent margin of error.
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