Obama approval more of the same

Barack Obama's approval rating in our national survey for October is 51%, the fifth month in a row it has fallen somewhere in the 50-52% range.

The big picture on his numbers remains this: pretty much everyone (89%) who voted for him likes the job he's doing. Pretty much everyone (85%) who voted for John McCain doesn't like the job he's doing. Almost a year since he was elected his overall political standing is pretty much unchanged. If he had to stand for reelection today his performance would be more or less what it was last November.

Also seeing very little change over the months is public opinion on Obama's health care plan. 45% of voters oppose it and 42% support it, reflecting a general trend of opposition to him on the issue in the mid 40s and support for him on it in the low 40s. For the most part voters have made up their minds and they're not changing them.

In our monthly measurement of how far Obama's political opponents will go in expressing their dislike of him we have some good news: only 5% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of his daughters compared to 54% who see them in a positive light. That is at least one line most people are not willing to cross.

Saying that Obama doesn't love America seems to be fair game though. 48% of Republicans express that sentiment while 25% are unsure and just 27% will grant that the President does love the country. Overall 59% of voters think Obama loves America while 26% think he doesn't, and 14% are unsure.

Those numbers track our 'birther' numbers from September almost exactly- 59% said Obama was born in the United States while 23% said he was not and 18% were unsure. There clearly is about a quarter of the country that is so partisan in its sentiments against Obama that it will go so far as to say he doesn't love the country, isn't a legitimate US citizen, etc. There are surely more things that could be added to the list.

Full results here