For the first time since his re-election in November, more Virginia voters disapprove of President Obama’s job performance than approve, according to the results of a survey released Thursday.
A Quinnipiac University poll shows 49 percent of respondents disapprove of Mr. Obama’s job performance compared with 45 percent who say he’s performing well.
The approval number is down from 51 percent who approved of the president’s job performance last month and his all-time high approval rating of 52 percent recorded in January and in November, shortly after he defeated Republican Mitt Romney.
The poll predictably showed overwhelmingly positive approval ratings among Democrats and largely negative ratings from Republicans. Among those who identified themselves as independents, his approval rating was below the overall figure with just 38 percent saying he is doing a good job and 53 percent expressing dissatisfaction.
Mr. Obama won Virginia twice, becoming the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to carry the state.
“We’ll watch to see if President Barack Obama’s job approval drop is a temporary blip or the beginning of something larger,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “One thing that may be hurting the president’s approval rating is the implementation of automatic cuts in the federal budget from the sequester. Virginia voters are very unhappy about it taking effect. And some of that unhappiness may be rubbing off on the president.”
The president had an approval rating of 51 percent in Northern Virginia, among the regions hardest hit in the nation by sequestration, compared with 45 percent who disapproved.
The survey, of 1,098 registered voters using interviewers to call land lines and cellphones, was conducted March 20 to 25 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
• Matthew Cella can be reached at mcella@washingtontimes.com.
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