Fox News Poll Finds Obama Below 50 Percent Approval; 29 Percent Said He Deserved Nobel Prize

In what the White House may consider the latest salvo in a so-called news "war," Fox News reported Friday that President Obama's approval rating has slipped below 50 percent:

Obama's job approval rating comes in at 49 percent this week. That's down just one percentage point from late September, but it marks a new low approval for the president — and the first time the Fox News poll has measured his approval below 50 percent.

That’s 49 percent approval, and 45 percent disapproval. Check out the Polling Report chart: Fox found 50 percent approval and 42 at the end of September – and a 54 to 39 approval-disapproval gap in mid-September. The Fox dispatch began with this statistic:

In what may be the ultimate job rating, 43 percent of voters say that they would vote to re-elect President Obama if the 2012 election were held today, down from 52 percent six months ago, from April 22-23, 2009.

CBS is at the other end of the polling spectrum: in a poll concluded October 8, they found a large 56 percent approve/ 34 percent disapprove gap. That’s largely unchanged (56/33) from the CBS/New York Times poll that ended September 23. (It should be noted that Fox News is polling registered voters, a more rigorous measure than CBS, which just polls adults.)

Fox also found that a large majority thinks President Obama did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize:

Upon winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama said, "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformational figures." Most Americans agree with the president — 65 percent say he did not deserve to win, while 29 percent say he did.

Furthermore, a slim 54 percent majority of Democrats think Obama did deserve to win, while 38 percent disagree. For independents, 19 percent think he deserved it, while nearly three-quarters, 74 percent, say he did not. Among Republicans, almost all — 91 percent — say he did not deserve it.

When asked why the Nobel Committee gave the president the prize, about a third of Americans, 32 percent, say because he deserved it, while the largest number — 44 percent — think the committee hoped the prize would make Obama "think twice before using military force in the future."