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Americans give Obama low marks on economy: poll

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Americans continue to give President Barack Obama low marks on his handling of the economy and budget deficit, but good marks on his anti-terrorism and foreign policies, according to a Gallup poll released on Thursday.

Sixty percent of Americans disapprove of Obama's performance on economy, while only 36 percent approve. On creating jobs, 58 percent of Americans disapprove of Obama, compared to 37 percent who approve, according to the poll conducted on Aug. 9-12 with 1, 012 adults.

On federal budget deficit, Obama gets the worst approval rating at 30 percent, compared to 64 percent who expressed dissatisfaction. On immigration issue, Obama gets a 38 percent approval rating, while the disapproval rating stands at 54 percent, the poll found.

These ratings are similar to those in 2011 and early February 2012. Only Obama's approval rating on terrorism (58 percent) is down slightly from the peak level (63 percent) in last fall after the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Also, his approval rating on education, at 49 percent, is up slightly from 41 percent last August, the Gallup said in a report.

Obama's ratings on the economy are worse than all three prior successful presidential incumbents at the same point in their first term, according to the available Gallup trends.

Obama's 36 percent approval rating on the economy is well below George W. Bush's rating in August 2004 (46 percent), Bill Clinton' s in August 1996 (54 percent), and Ronald Reagan's in July 1984 ( 50 percent).

Obama's economic rating is, however, much better than that of George H.W. Bush in July 1992 (18 percent), and his 48 percent approval rating on foreign affairs is among the highest among the last six elected presidents at this point of their presidencies.

While Obama's ratings are largely unchanged from the past year, the stability may be a problem given his overall job approval rating is 45 percent, the Gallup said, noting that, historically, presidents who won a second term had near-50 percent job approval ratings or better ahead of the November election.