Poll: 55 percent disapprove, 43 percent approve of job Obama doing

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- President Obama is ending 2013 with record numbers of Americans saying they disapprove of his job performance, a Washington Post-ABC poll indicates.

He ends his fifth year as president tied with his worst approval ratings ever and his advantages over congressional Republicans eroding in many areas, results of the poll released Tuesday indicated.

Approval rates of both parties in Congress were worse than Obama's in the latest Post-ABC poll, but pollsters said the president suffered the most damage from his administration's self-inflicted wounds -- such as the faulty rollout of healthcare.gov -- and a year of partisan bickering that included a partial government shutdown in October.

Fifty-five percent of respondents polled said they disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job as president while 43 percent said they approve, results indicated.

On the question of who is seen as better able to handle the country's main problems, Obama and Republicans tied at 41 percent.

The latest poll indicated Republicans were seen as better able to handle the economy than Obama, 45 percent to 41 percent. On who would better protect the middle class, Obama led the congressional GOP by 6 percentage points, 46 percent to 40 percent.

Congressional approval stands at 16 percent, up 4 percentage points in the past month.

Obama had positive numbers for two key attributes -- whether he understands the problems of everyday Americans and whether he is honest and trustworthy, the Post said.

Results are based on a nationwide phone survey of 1,005 adults conducted Thursday through Sunday. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.