Obama approval rating falls to 50 percent

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to its lowest level yet -- 50 percent -- seven months into his term, a Gallup Poll indicated Thursday.

At the same time, the proportion of people who said they disapprove of the job the Democratic president is doing climbed to 43 percent, nearly its highest level, says Gallup's daily tracking poll, based on surveys conducted Tuesday through Thursday.

Other polls have put Obama's job approval rating at 51 percent in recent days, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

And Gallup noted the president's declining ratings come amid growing concern about healthcare reform he has advocated.

Just after his inauguration in January, Gallup had put Obama's public job approval at a high of 69 percent.

Falling below 50 percent before November in the first year of office would mean the third-fastest plunge in a president's rating since World War II, Gallup said.

Republican Gerald Ford, who took over after Richard Nixon left office in disgrace, hit that low in the third month of his presidency; Democrat Bill Clinton, in his fourth. Father-son presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush stayed above the 50 percent mark about three years; and Lyndon Johnson and Nixon, more than two, Gallup said.

Obama aides played down the importance of poll ratings.

The tracking poll is based on surveys of about 1,500 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.