The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 22 percent of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent strongly disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of minus16.
A generic Republican candidate now holds a four-point lead over Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. It’s the fifth week in a row that the GOP candidate has been ahead and the widest gap between the candidates to date.
Just 30 percent of likely U.S. voters favor raising taxes to make sure the Social Security and Medicare trust funds have enough money to pay all promised benefits. Slightly more, 34 percent prefer raising the retirement age when those benefits kick in for future generations.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove of Obama’s performance from the number who strongly approve.
Overall, 47 percent of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance; 52 percent at least somewhat disapprove.
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