Obama Approval: The Demographic Data

Five months into his first term, Pres. Barack Obama maintains a high approval rating according to the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, outpacing his predecessor at this stage in his presidency.

Obama's ratings are nearly identical to former president George W. Bush's among his own partisans (Obama garners an 88 percent approval rating from Democrats, Bush held the same in June 2001 among Republicans) and the opposition (Obama scores a 26 percent among Republicans, Bush was at 29 percent among Democrats), the difference comes from independents: about two-thirds of independents approve of the job Obama is doing (65 percent) compared with about half who approved of Bush's handling of the presidency (52 percent). Former president Bill Clinton's approval ratings were lower across the board in June of his first year in office.

The new reading represents a slight decline from approval ratings at the 100-day-mark of Obama's presidency. Much of the change stems from a steep decline in approval from the loyal opposition: among Republicans, Obama's approval rating fell 10 points in the past two months, among conservative Republicans, it dropped 16 points.

Data from this Washington Post-ABC News poll can be found here.

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? (No opinion responses not shown.)

                   -- Approve ---   - Disapprove -
                   NET   Strongly   NET   Strongly
All                65       36      29       22

Democrat           88       62       7        4
Republican         26        7      68       45
Independent        65       31      32       23

Liberal Dem        91       72       7        1
Mod/Con Dem        86       56       8        5
Mod/Lib Rep        45       15      47       29
Conserv. Rep       13        1      84       57

Liberal            87       57      11        5
Moderate           75       42      20       12
Conservative       40       16      55       42

Men                61       33      35       23
Women              68       39      28       20

White              60       29      36       25
Non-white          79       57      15        9

East               69       42      29       20
Midwest            69       32      26       19
South              59       36      35       25
West               64       35      32       20

Whites by region:
East               65       38      34       23
Midwest            69       30      29       21
South              49       21      46       34
West               62       34      33       19

18-29              71       33      23       13
30-39              66       39      32       21
40-49              67       39      27       21
50-64              61       35      37       26
65+                58       35      38       27

Non-college        65       33      30       20
College+           64       42      33       24

Among whites:
Non-college        59       25      37       25
College+           63       38      35       25

Household income:
<$50,000           67       34      30       20
$50,000+           62       38      32       23

Among whites:
<$50,000           61       24      37       25
$50,000+           60       34      35       25

Religion:
Wh. Evang. Prot.   38       14      56       41
Wh. Non-evang.
 Protestant        61       33      34       24
White Catholic     58       31      38       25
None               77       48      21       14

Union members      67       42      29       19

By Jennifer Agiesta |  June 23, 2009; 11:29 AM ET Crosstabs , Presidential Approval
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