--- title: Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll description: The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows even lower support for congressional Republicans canonical: https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T01:43:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:31:15.719Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll og:description: The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows even lower support for congressional Republicans og:url: https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1ee131772a90209/69869e7f35ba6f54dcc034e9/ap464974426238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll twitter:description: The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows even lower support for congressional Republicans twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1ee131772a90209/69869e7f35ba6f54dcc034e9/ap464974426238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Aug 6, 2014 1:43 AM UTC  President Barack Obama signs "H.J. Res. 76," a bill that provides an additional $225 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, in Washington. President Barack Obama signs "H.J. Res. 76," a bill that provides an additional $225 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, in Washington. Evan Vucci—AP  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Aug 6, 2014 1:43 AM UTC President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have dipped to a new low—40%—according to a new poll released Tuesday. The NBC News/_Wall Street Journal_ poll, which was conducted by a Democratic pollster and a Republican pollster working together, has Obama’s favorability at 40% positive and 47% negative. NBC News reports that the decline in Obama’s polling numbers stems chiefly from a decline in support among Democrats and African Americans. The President’s approval rating for his handling of foreign policy is particularly low, at 36%. The approval rating for Congress is far worse, crouching down at 14%, a level where it has been for several years, but disapproval in Congress isn’t split evenly across the aisle. Americans view congressional Democrats (31%) more favorably than they do congressional Republicans (19%). The President’s dismal numbers heading into a midterm spell trouble for the Democrats but not necessarily a tidal wave like in 2006 or 2010 — enthusiasm, pollsters said, is particularly low all around this campaign season. The NBC/_WSJ_ survey polled 1,000 adults between July 30 and Aug. 3 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. \[[_NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/americas-fed-obama-approval-rating-hits-all-time-low-poll-n173271)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/"},"headline":"Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll","datePublished":"2014-08-06T01:43:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:31:15.719Z","description":"The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows even lower support for congressional Republicans","url":"https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/","keywords":["White House","Congress","Barack Obama","Obama","Polls","Polling","2014 midterm elections"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1ee131772a90209/69869e7f35ba6f54dcc034e9/ap464974426238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1ee131772a90209/69869e7f35ba6f54dcc034e9/ap464974426238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3084270/obamas-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-in-new-poll/","name":"Obama’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low in New Poll"}}]}] ```