Bin Laden Bump Gone, New Poll Shows

By Steven Shepard  //  June 7, 2011 | 6:44 a.m.
Updated: June 7, 2011 | 9:12 a.m.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Any political benefit President Obama received from the death of Osama bin Laden is gone, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll that shows Obama facing a tough re-election battle against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

A slight plurality of Americans now disapproves of Obama, a significant drop since a one-day Pew Research Center/Washington Post poll conducted the day after the bin Laden killing showed Obama's approval at a robust 56 percent. Today, just 47 percent of Americans approve of Obama, while 49 percent disapprove. A majority of independents, 53 percent, disapproves of his job performance.

That drop comes as the percentage of Americans who disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy has a hit a new high, 59 percent. More Americans now trust congressional Republicans (45 percent) to handle the economy than trust Obama (42 percent). The poll was conducted over a four-day period from last Thursday to Sunday; of the four nights of interviews, three took place after the disappointing May jobs report was released by the Department of Labor last Friday.

Romney's lead over Obama among registered voters is a narrow, 49 percent to 46 percent advantage. Among all adults, the two are tied at 47 percent.

But Romney's slight edge comes from some unlikely places. According to the poll, Romney runs even among women, a group Obama carried by 13 points against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2008. Romney has an 18-point lead among white women; McCain carried that group by only 7 points.

In an open-ended Republican primary question, Romney has a slight lead over former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 21 percent to 17 percent. The third-place candidate, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, earns just eight percent of the vote. But Romney has baggage to contend with before he makes it to a showdown with Obama. By a two-to-one margin, Republicans oppose "the health care reform plan that ... Romney put into place in Massachusetts." Still, 20 percent of those who oppose that health care reform plan still support him for the nomination, and 88 percent support him against Obama. Though Palin finishes second in the primary, she trails Obama by 15 points in a general-election matchup, and 64 percent of Americans say they definitely would not vote for her for president. Obama trails Romney among registered voters, but he defeats other Republican candidates, even crossing the 50-percent threshold against each of them. He leads Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. (51 percent to 40 percent); former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (50 percent to 44 percent); former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (50 percent to 40 percent); Palin (55 percent to 40 percent); and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (50 percent to 41 percent). The poll was conducted June 2-5 by Langer Research Associates, among a sample of 1,002 adults. Results among adults have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent; the margin of error is higher for subgroups.

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