A new USA Today/Pew Research poll finds that President Barack Obama’s core policy initiatives such as combating global warming and income inequality barely register as top concerns for most Americans.
In the wake of historic midterm election losses for Democrats, Obama unveiled two major global warming initiatives and said he would make the issue a major theme of his final two years in office. However, according to the latest USA Today/Pew Research poll, just 1% of Americans cite environment/global warming as their top concern.
Similarly, last year Obama hailed income inequality as “the defining challenge of our time.” Yet in the most recent poll, just 2% of Americans called distribution of wealth/income inequality the top problem confronting Americans.
The findings pose a daunting challenge for an unpopular president with an agenda seemingly out of step with the concerns of most Americans. Indeed, more than 1 in 3 Americans (34%) cited economic issues as the nation’s top problem. As USA Today notes, Obama cannot “take credit for good economic news when so many Americans believe the country fundamentally has gotten off on the wrong track.”
That hasn’t stopped Obama from trying, however. For months, despite the fact that food stamp enrollments have remained above 46 million for 36 months in a row, Obama has continued to claim his leadership has lifted the U.S. economy.
“By every economic measure, we are better off now than when I took office,” Obama said in October.
Still, more Americans disapprove than approve of Obama’s handling of seven of eight specific issues (on energy policy it’s tied 41%-41%).
The poll found that just 42% of Americans approve of President Obama.