New Poll Is A Disaster For Obama

AP

President Barack Obama has seen an erosion in support for his foreign policy plummet to an all-time low, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released Wednesday.

According to the poll, just 37% of respondents said they approved of Obama's handling of foreign-policy issues, an all-time low. Meanwhile, 57% said they disapproved, an all-time high.

And the foreign-policy approval rating for Obama might actually be artificially high. The poll was conducted before the crisis in Iraq, a situation for which Obama has been roundly criticized, bubbled up and grabbed international attention.

Obama's handling of international events have earned him criticism over the past few months - from the crisis in Ukraine to his administration's decision to execute a prisoner swap to free U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five Taliban-affiliated prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

According to the poll, 44% of respondents said the administration should not have made the exchange, compared with 30% who supported it.

Some other highlights from the poll:

• Obama's overall approval rating sits at just 41%, tying an all-time low.
• His approval rating on handling the economy also sits at 41%, which is down 1 percentage point from last month. It's the same number from March.
• Obama's favorability rating is underwater - 41% said they view him positively, while 45% see him in a negative light.
• When asked their predictions on the rest of Obama's term in office, 54% said they thought he "cannot lead and get the job done," compared with only 42% who said the opposite.
• Over the last 12 months, 41% of respondents said their views of the Obama administration have "gotten worse." Only 15% said they have "gotten better."

Obama's declining popularity threatens to drag down Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections. By a 10-point margin, more people said their vote this November will be to "send a signal of opposition to Obama." (41% said their vote will not be a signal to Obama either way.) On the generic congressional ballot, 35% said they would vote for a Democratic candidate in their district, compared with 30% who chose a theoretical Republican candidate.