Poll: Obama approval rating slips

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has an approval rating of 56 percent, representing a 7 percentage point drop from his April rating, a poll indicates.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Thursday is in line with other national polls on Obama's approval rating released in recent weeks.

"Since April, Obama's rating has stayed steady among white women, but he has dropped 14 points among white men," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "A majority of white men supported him at the 100-day mark, but now most white men disapprove of how he is handling his job.

Holland said Obama's approval rating also slipped among non-whites, but he still has support from more than 70 percent of that demographic.

The U.S. economy is the dominant issue so far for the Obama administration, the poll indicated. Forty-four percent of respondents said Obama's policies have so far have improved the economy, while half of Americans said they haven't had a positive effect.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll interviewed 1,136 adults nationwide by telephone July 31-Aug. 3. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.