WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- President Obama's approval rating fell 8 percentage points from May, settling at 45 percent, his lowest in 18 months, a CNN poll released Monday indicated.
A majority of respondents to the CNN/ORC International poll, 52 percent, said they think Obama is a strong and decisive leader, but that figure is also down -- 6 percentage points from May.
Results of the poll -- coming as Obama's administration is reacting to reports of the NSA surveillance program, the IRS scrutinizing conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the deadly terror attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya and the Justice Department's collection of journalists' phone records as part of a government investigation into classified leaks -- indicate nearly half of the U.S. public said they don't believe the president is honest.
His approval rating was down from 53 percent in mid-May.
Fifty-four percent of respondents said they disapprove of how Obama's handling his job, up 9 percentage points from last month, the first time since November 2011 that a majority of Americans have had a negative view of the president, CNN said.
The number of Americans who said they think Obama is honest dropped 9 percentage points to 49 percent. Fifty-seven percent of those questioned disagreed with the president's views on the size and power of the federal government and 53 percent said he cannot manage the government effectively.
Results are based on nationwide phone interviews with 1,014 adults conducted Tuesday through Thursday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
