"Honest and Trustworthy" -- Not
Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan write at The Washington Post:
A majority of voters in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll do not believe President Obama is “honest and trustworthy,” a precipitous shift from past findings that reveals the depth of the damage he has incurred due to his misleading “if you like it, you can keep it” pledge about health insurance.
Fifty-two percent of registered voters in the new Post-ABC poll say that Obama is not honest and trustworthy; a year ago, in mid-October, as Obama was moving toward a sweeping reelection victory, a strong majority (56 percent) said that he was both honest and trustworthy. And, earlier in Obama’s first term, the numbers were even higher, with 74 percent of people calling him honest and trustworthy in April 2009.
What happened seems obvious. Obama’s second term has been defined by two major (and markedly negative) stories: The massive surveillance program run through the NSA and the problem-plagued rollout of Obamacare. In both instances, Obama came across as something less than forthright about what he knew and when he knew it.
CBS reports on a new poll that confirms this finding:
When compared to recent two-term presidents, President Obama's approval rating is similar to that of George W. Bush at this point in his presidency, but lower than the ratings of both Bill Clinton (58 percent) and Ronald Reagan (65 percent). In November 2005, 35 percent of Americans approved of the job President Bush was doing. That number mostly declined over the rest of his term, hitting a low of 20 percent in October 2008.
President Obama has also taken a hit on views of his honesty. During the presidential campaign last fall, 60 percent of voters said Mr. Obama was honest and trustworthy, but just 49 percent of Americans think that today.
Most Democrats (84 percent) say the president is honest and trustworthy, but most Republicans don't think he is (77 percent). Independents are more divided in their assessments: 43 percent think President Obama is honest and trustworthy, but 53 percent don't think he is.
Earlier, the Quinnipiac Poll reported:
For the first time today, American voters say 52 - 44 percent that Obama is not honest and trustworthy. His previous lowest marks on honesty were May 30, when 49 percent of voters said he was honest and 47 percent said he wasn't.
