US President Barack Obama is a "charmer" who is widely liked by Americans but his policies are proving less popular, according to a new poll which has mixed news for his 2012 reelection bid. The Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday shows that the president's personal popularity vaults across party lines but that Americans remain split on Obama's economic management and agenda.
Three-quarters of American voters like Obama but his job approval rating remains at 46 percent - slightly down from the 48 percent rating recorded by the same poll in January. Only forty-five percent of those polled said Obama deserves the second term in office which is the benchmark of any successful presidency.
Fifty-eight percent of those polled said they disapproved of the way Obama is handling the federal budget deficit and 51 percent say he will cut spending by too little rather than too much. "President Barack Obama is a charmer. The American people like him a great deal, but they aren't nearly as sold on his policies," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"The question over the next two years will be whether personality or policies will prevail," Brown said. Generally, the power of personality can be a powerful factor in US presidential elections, when the likeability factor of a candidate can play an important role in moving votes.