Obama’s rating hits lowest level

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama’s job approval reached its lowest level, and nearly half of Americans surveyed opposed the U.S. military intervention in Libya, a Quinnipiac University poll found.

Also, 50 percent of the registered voters surveyed by the Hamden, Connecticut-based university’s polling institute said Obama didn’t deserve re-election in 2012, compared with 41 percent who said he should receive a second four-year term.

Obama’s overall approval rating in late March was at 42 percent, down from 46 percent in a March 3 Quinnipiac survey and at its lowest level in all the university’s surveys on the president, said Peter Brown, the polling institute’s assistant director.

The survey found 48 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance, up from 46 percent in March. Half of independent voters surveyed voiced disapproval for Obama’s handling of his job, with 39 percent approving.

Voters said they disapprove of the U.S. action in Libya, 47 percent to 41 percent. Most were interviewed before Obama delivered a televised March 28 speech explaining his policy in Libya. Fifty-eight percent said he hadn’t provided clear goals for getting involved, and 74 percent said they were concerned that the U.S. would be in a long-term war.

At the same time, 65 percent backed using U.S. military force to protect Libyan civilians, and 53 percent supported using cruise missiles to destroy that country’s air defenses, Bloomberg reported.