A new Fox News poll shows President Obama’s approval rating hit a new rock bottom. For the first time ever in a Fox News poll, just 38% of Americans believe the President is doing a good job. That figure is down four points from February. The March polling has his disapproval rating at 54%, up one percentage point from last month. But the most interesting aspect of this data comes when you examine how Democrats, Republicans, and Independents rate the President.
“Here are the polls. Now listen to how poorly the President is doing,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “But look at the split of this nation. A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Approval of Obama among Democrats stands at 71%, near its 69% record low (September 2013). For independents, 28% approve, which is also near the 25% all-time low among this group (July 2013). And approval of Obama among Republicans hits a new low of 5%.
Furthermore, a record 59% of Americans think the White House has failed in its attempts at job creation. Similarly, 56% say the White House has failed on the economy. When it comes to improving the U.S. reputation abroad, 33% say President Obama has mostly succeeded and 59% believe he has mostly failed.
You may recall this President promising to have the most transparent administration in history – but the American people are not convinced. 59% believe President Obama has mostly failed on the transparency front. Even more telling – 47% of Democrats believe Obama Administration has failed in its quest for transparency.
Glenn believes that statistic is the most significant of the bunch because it speaks to a larger issue of trust.
“This one is really important because this one goes to freedom of the press… You saw on the front page of TheBlaze: Russia Today anchor boldly quits her job on the air,” Glenn explained. “You know what? Brian Williams needs to stand up and say: ‘We have edited things out of context. Even our NBC golf coverage edited ‘under God’ out of the Pledge of Allegiance for ‘time’? I don't believe that. Nobody believes that. I'm sorry, guys, but it is my face on this. I am the face of NBC News. And when Andrea Mitchell comes out and she makes those cuts and she knows it, I quit. We either fix this and clean this up or I quit.’ When is a journalist going to do that?”
The U.S. is now ranked 46th in the world for freedom of the press primarily because of the actions this administration has taken against journalists. If the trend continues, it is unclear what will actually be left of the First Amendment. As Glenn explained, not until the press begins to demand accountability and transparency will anything actually change.
“When is Brian Williams going to stand up… Jonathan Turley, the Constitutional scholar from Georgetown said, ‘I agree with what he's trying to do but not this way,’” Glenn concluded. “You don't have to say… ‘Oh, I disagree with all the things that I really stood for.’ You don't have to say that. You just have to say, ‘How it's being done is wrong.’ We can still disagree but not on principles.”
You can see the full Fox News poll results HERE.