NBC-WSJ poll: More Americans disapprove of Obama's job performance

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- More Americans disapprove of President Obama's job performance than ever before, a NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll indicated.

About half of survey respondents said they're either disappointed or dissatisfied with Obama's presidency and 54 percent said they believe he's facing a long-term setback, results released Tuesday indicated.

More importantly, NBC said, Americans give Obama lower ratings in key presidential attributes. Results indicated 28 percent give Obama high grades for being able to achieve his goals, down 16 percentage points from January. Thirty-seven percent give him high marks for being honest and straightforward in the latest poll, down 5 percentage points from June; and 44 percent give him high marks for being able to handle a crisis, also down 5 percentage points since June.

Results indicated Obama's overall job-approval rating was at 43 percent, up 1 percentage point from the NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey in late October. Fifty-four percent said they disapprove of the job Obama is doing, the highest disapproval rating of his presidency.

Obama's favorable-unfavorable score was 42 percent positive and 46 percent negative.

A majority -- 51 percent -- of respondents call Congress "one of the worst" in history, the highest percentage ever to express this view.

By comparison, 28 percent say Congress was "below average," 17 percent call it "average," 2 percent say it's "above average," and 1 percent think it's "one of the best" Congresses.

Results are based on nationwide phone surveys of 1,000 adults conducted Dec. 4-8. The overall margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.