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Polling Matters
Obama's September Job Approval Rating Among Hispanics Is Lowest of His Administration
Polling Matters

Obama's September Job Approval Rating Among Hispanics Is Lowest of His Administration

President Barack Obama's job approval rating among Hispanics in September was the lowest monthly average of his administration on an absolute basis, and also the lowest on a relative basis compared with his approval among all adults.

Obama's job approval rating among Hispanics for the month of September was 47%, down from 52% in August. September's 47% is by one percentage point the lowest monthly average ever; his previous lowest month among Hispanics was 48% in August 2011.


The five-point differential between monthly Hispanic approval and overall approval is the lowest such gap since Obama took office. As I noted in this analysis, that gap had risen to as high as 23 percentage points in late 2012 and early 2013. The gap was also small in the summer of 2011, reaching six points at times. But the five-point gap in September is by one point the lowest to date.


The most likely cause of this deterioration in Hispanic support for Obama is the delay on dealing with immigration, as this Washington Post report suggests. Hispanics, it's worth remembering, are more likely than other Americans to say immigration is the top problem facing the country.

One note of at least some encouragement to the Obama administration is the fact that Hispanic job approval moves up and down more than job approval among other demographic groups. This fluidity means that Hispanics' differentially higher job approval for Obama can, in theory, rise as fast as it has fallen -- perhaps when the administration acts on immigration reform.

One final note. My discussion here pointed out that the president had not been suffering on a relative basis among women, despite some claims to the contrary. For September, the data show that Obama's gap among women is about two points higher than the national average, which is slightly, but not substantially, lower than the average for his administration. In short, there are no signs that Obama's traditional gender gap in approval is diminishing to a significant degree -- at least through September.

Author(s)

Frank Newport, Ph.D., is a Gallup Senior Scientist. He is the author of Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People and God Is Alive and Well. Twitter: @Frank_Newport


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/178016/obama-september-job-approval-rating-among-hispanics-lowest-administration.aspx
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