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Obama’s approval rating down 14 points

President Obama’s job approval has slipped 14 percentage points since December, indicating the struggle he’s had in his second term.

Forty-one percent of people say they approve of his job performance as president, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Friday. A majority, 53 percent, disapproves. The 12-point difference is the largest of his presidency, Pew says.

Pew notes Obama’s slipping approval among the public mirrors that of former President George W. Bush during the same time in his administration. 

{mosads}A year after Bush was reelected, 36 percent approved of his job performance as president. That number was down 12 percentage points from the 48 percent who approved of his job in December 2004, just after his reelection.

Most people disapprove of the way Obama has handled immigration policy, foreign policy, healthcare policy and the economy — all areas at the top of his agenda — according to the poll.

Obama’s rating on the economy is the worst of his presidency, Pew says, with only 31 percent approving of his job on that front.  

On healthcare, he received a 37 percent approval rating, which comes amid intense criticism his he and his administration has faced in recent weeks because of the messy rollout of ObamaCare. 

Terrorism, by contrast, is one area where more than half of people approve of his job handling threats. 

The Pew poll is not the worst polling data Obama has received recently. In Gallup’s daily poll on Tuesday, his approval rating slipped to 39 percent. It was the first time it fell below 40 percent in two years.