---
title: "Downward-Facing Obama"
description: "Foreign policy, once a relative strength for President Obama, has now become a target of substantial criticism among both the general public and foreign policy experts."
date: "2013-12-04"
authors:
  - name: "No Author"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/12/04/downward-facing-obama/"
---

# Downward-Facing Obama

*By Bruce Stokes, Director of Global Economic Attitudes, Pew Research Center*

Special to [*Foreign Policy*](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/03/downward_facing_obama_job_rating)

Fresh from signing an interim nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration must now sell the agreement to Congress and the American people. Notwithstanding the merits and demerits of the Iranian accord, that task could prove particularly difficult because of the public's sour assessment of President Barack Obama's handling of a range of foreign policy challenges.

The Affordable Care Act online fiasco notwithstanding, Obama's overall job approval rating has fallen over the past year -- including his handling of foreign policy. His job rating is now below 40 percent for nine of 10 foreign policy issues tested in a new public opinion survey, "America's Place in the World," by the [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/public-sees-u-s-power-declining-as-support-for-global-engagement-slips/). A companion poll of members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy, was similarly critical of Obama's overall foreign policy track record, but more supportive of his handling of individual challenges.

Read more at [*Foreign Policy*](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/03/downward_facing_obama_job_rating)