Polls Show Obama Losing Support Among Youth, Latinos, Women, Unions
Two recent polls suggest that President Barack Obama is losing support among some of his most reliable constituencies – young adults, Latinos, women and labor union households.
Harvard University's Institute of Politics released a poll showing Obama's approval rating at only 41 percent among 18- to 29-year-olds. And a Field Poll of California voters showed Obama's biggest increases in disapproval came from Latinos (16 percentage points), union households (18 percentage points) and women (13 percentage points), according to The Sacramento Bee.
California has been one of the most reliable Democratic states in recent decades, but the poll suggests Obama would barely win, with a 51 percent approval rating, if running for election in California today.
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Obama will not run for another election, but he is focused on making sure the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," works. And on that front, the Harvard poll has some additional bad news for the administration – majorities of young adults have soured on Obamacare.
For the law's new health care exchanges to become financially viable, lots of young, healthy people need to sign up. A majority of young people, though, disapprove of the ACA.
The Harvard poll asked the question two different ways and came up with nearly identical results. When asked if they approve of the "Affordable Care Act," 56 percent of millennials disapproved. When asked if they approve of "Obamacare," 57 percent of millennials disapproved.
Among those who said they do not currently have health insurance (22 percent of the sample), only about one in four said they would enroll (29 percent when it was called "Obamacare," 25 percent when it was called the "Affordable Care Act"). Additionally, a majority (50 to 51 percent) believe health care costs will increase because of the new law.
Disapproval of Obama is significantly higher among young millennials (18- to 24-year-olds) than older millennials (25- to 29-year-olds). When asked if they would choose to replace Obama, a majority, 52 percent, of younger millennials said they would while only 40 percent of older millennials would make the same choice.
Millennials' disapproval of Obama does not appear, though, to be leading them toward the Republican Party. Only 19 percent approve of Republicans in Congress.
The Harvard poll interviewed 2,089 18- to 29-year-olds from Oct. 30 to Nov. 11. The margin of error is 2.1 percentage points.
The Field Poll interviewed 766 registered California voters from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1. The margin of error is 3.5 to 4.5 percentage points depending on the question.
