Obama faces lowest numbers on economy

Disapproval of President Obama’s handling of the economy and unemployment is at an all-time high heading into his highly anticipated speech announcing his jobs plan next week.

A CNN/ORC poll released Thursday found deep dissatisfaction with the president’s management of the economy: Sixty-five percent of Americans said they disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy, the highest level of disapproval the president has faced on that question in this poll.

{mosads}Just 34 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the economy, matching the low point in CNN/ORC’s numbers during Obama’s term.

As for the No. 1 issue in the election — jobs — the president also faces the dimmest numbers of his tenure. Sixty-two percent of Americans said they disapprove of Obama’s work on unemployment, while 37 percent said they approve.

A Quinnipiac University poll also released Thursday shows similar dissatisfaction with the president.

The poll found that more voters believe Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would do a better job on the economy than Obama. Forty-six percent said Romney would be better for the economy, compared to 42 percent for the president.

Among independent voters, 49 percent said Romney would do better on the economy, with only 37 percent trusting the president’s efforts.

But Obama still holds an edge over Congress on the economy. The poll found voters trust the president more than Republican lawmakers to handle the economy, 44 percent to 41 percent.

Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said the economy was getting worse.

Quinnipiac found Obama’s overall job-approval rating hitting a new low in its polling, at 42 percent. Fifty-two percent of voters disapprove of Obama’s job performance. The numbers show a sharp drop from Quinnipiac’s July poll, when the president held a 47 percent approval rating.

These figures set the stage for the president’s address next Thursday to a joint session of Congress. Obama will outline his fall jobs agenda in a speech that’s equal parts politics and policy. The White House understands the president will have to boost his numbers on jobs and the economy if he is to have a chance in the 2012 election.

To that end, the president’s reelection campaign sought to build anticipation for the speech.

“No matter how things go in the weeks and months ahead, this will be an important challenge for our organization,” Obama wrote Wednesday evening in an email to supporters. “It’s been a long time since Congress was focused on what the American people need them to be focused on.”

The CNN/ORC poll, conducted Aug. 24-25, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted Aug. 16-27 and has a 2 percent margin of error.

This story was posted at 6 a.m. and has been updated.