(Using an intensity rating - those who are "much" more or less likely to support a candidate who backs the ACA - it's still 15 points negative, vs. 2 points last year.) Today 45 percent of Americans call Obama "too liberal," matching the high, and 46 percent say the same about the Democratic Party. And perhaps adding insult to injury, registered voters divide numerically in Mitt Romney's favor, 49-45 percent, if they had a mulligan for the 2012 presidential election. At the same time, there's also one core support group in which Obama is hurting - young adults, a group he won by an historic margin in 2008, and strongly again in 2012. METHODOLOGY - This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 14-17, 2013, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults, including landline and cell-phone-only respondents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including design effect.
– Just how bad are things for President Obama a year into his second term? So bad that if the American people got a mulligan on the 2012 election, there's a good shot we'd be looking at a President Romney. A Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals that if the election were held today, Obama would lose the popular vote 45% to 49%. While the Post reminds us that the Electoral College, not the popular vote, is the ultimate decider, it notes that spread roughly mirrors the 4 points Obama actually won by, and reflects plummeting support from his key demographics: Obama won women by 11 points; now, his edge is down to one point. He won voters aged 18-39 by 18 points; that's down to two. He won voters earning less than $50,000 by 22 points; it's down to three. He's now nine points in the hole with voters without a college degree, after winning them by four points. While he'd still win 59% of liberals, that's down from 75%—and 20% now say they'd vote for Romney. Obama's approval rating has fallen 13 points this year to 42%, tying its lowest mark ever in the poll. The culprit, as you might suspect, is at least in part the Affordable Care Act rollout, which 63% think has been handled poorly. The public now opposes the law itself 57%-40%, its worst numbers yet, and 71% favor delaying the individual mandate.