Overall, 42% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. That is the lowest level of approval yet measured for this president. Fifty-six percent (56%) now disapprove of his performance.

Forty-four percent (44%) say the president is doing a good or excellent job on national security issues while 39% give him such positive marks on the economy. See other measures of the president’s performance at Obama By the Numbers. Thirty-four percent (34%) say the president is doing a good job handling the Gulf oil spill while 33% give him poor grades on that topic.

Most Americans have “come to believe that the political system is broken, that most politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers,” observes Scott Rasmussen. Just 27% believe Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy and 41% say that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. In his new book, Scott adds, “Some of us are ready to give up and some of us are ready to scream a little louder. But all of us believe we can do better.”