Obama’s negative ratings increase in Arkansas

Editor’s note: Roby Brock, with our content partner Talk Business, wrote this report. He can be reached at [email protected]

For Arkansas voters, President Barack Obama started with a pretty poor job performance rating and it’s gotten worse.

The Democratic incumbent has seen his job approval steadily erode in his 3 years in office. Obama lost to GOP nominee John McCain 58-38 in 2008. In a Talk Business-Hendrix College survey of 2,101 Arkansas voters statewide, Obama has less than one-third support for his handling of the Presidency.

Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing?
31.5%     Approve
63.5%     Disapprove
5%          Don’t know

That number has fallen from October 2009 when we last polled the President’s job performance. Obama’s rating from that survey showed:
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing?
40%   Approve
56%   Disapprove
4%     Don’t Know

"Barack Obama has never been popular in Arkansas," said Dr. Jay Barth, professor of political science at Hendrix College. "He’s in the low 30’s, two-to-one against. I think the question now becomes to what degree is Barack Obama an obstacle to the Democratic Party down the ticket in Arkansas."

Continuing, Barth said: "We’ve got some real evidence that the Democratic brand is in some real trouble in Arkansas and I think Barack Obama is clearly a component of that.”

He contends that while Republicans will likely do their best to tie Obama to down-ballot Congressional and legislative races, both Democrats and Republicans will have to field respectable candidates to have success. On Monday, Talk Business and Hendrix College released results of Congressional job approval numbers for Arkansas’ four federal representatives.

"The key question is not who will win the state’s electoral votes in 2012, but the degree to which the Obama candidacy will bog down Democrats running lower down the ticket in the battles for Congress and control of the state legislature," Barth said.

GOP PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNERS
The Talk Business statewide survey also compared Obama in head-to-head match-ups with the two GOP frontrunners for President, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Q: If the Presidential election were today and your choices were Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Rick Perry, for whom would you vote?
34%     Barack Obama
53%     Rick Perry
13%     Don’t Know

Q: If the Presidential election were today and your choices were Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney, for whom would you vote?
33.5%    Barack Obama
49.5%    Mitt Romney
17%       Don’t Know

Link here for more detail on the report and a video interview with Barth about the poll results.