A new CNN poll shows that swing voters and independents are walking away from President Barack Obama, leaving him with his base of progressive-led voters.
Only 42 percent of the 1,014 polled adults believe Obama agrees with their views on the size and power of the government, while 57 believe he does not agree.
Only 40 percent of adults approve of his policy towards illegal immigrants, while 57 percent disapprove. That’s the worst score he’s faced on that issue since January 2011, when he had 38 percent approval.
The drops come as he tries to push through a controversial rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws that would add 30 million immigrants, and at least 5 million university-trained guest-workers, to the stalled economy over the next decade.
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International from June 11 to 13, but it didn’t include any questions are about what may be the White House’s most damaging scandal — the IRS’ controversial targeting of conservative, pro-life and pro-Israel political groups.
The poll did show that 62 percent of adults believe “the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.”
Only 37 percent said they don’t think it has become “an immediate threat.”
That “immediate threat” number matches other polls, which show most independents and swing voters — and even some in his 40 percent base of support — worried about the IRS’s discrimination and pressure tactics.
That 62 percent opposition is especially noteworthy because a small majority of the public supports high-tech surveillance to prevent jihadi attacks.
For example, only 43 percent said they think “the Obama administration has gone too far … in restricting people’s civil liberties in order to fight terrorism.” Thirty-eight percent of people said Obama is “about right,” and 17 percent said he has not gone far enough.
Fifty-one percent of respondents said they “think the Obama administration was right … in gathering and analyzing those phone records.” Only 48 percent said the administration’s policy is wrong.
Overall, the president’s approval fell to 45 percent, while his disapproval number rose to 54 percent. That’s the worst scores since November 2011, when his approval was 44 percent.
The collapse in Obama’s numbers were caused by a sharp 17-point plunge in support from younger people, who have been hit hard by the stalled economy and by the news of far-reaching surveillance, according to Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director.
His support among independents fell by 10 percent, from 47 percent in May to 37 percent in June, CNN reports. His disapproval number among swing-voting independents jumped from 49 percent to 61 percent.
On the economy, Obama’s overall approval fell to 42 percent, which is the worst score since his 35 percent rating in November 2011.
On foreign affairs, his approval number fell to 44 percent — a record low for him.
On his handling of the budget deficit, his approval number fell to 34 percent, which is his worst rating since his August 2011 score of 33 percent.
His rating on terrorism fell to where it was prior to the U.S. military’s successful killing of Osama bin Laden in March 2010. In June, only 52 percent of the public approved of his anti-terror policies, perilously near his 50 percent approval in January 2010.\