Poll: 41 percent satisfied with Obama on Ferguson

Forty-one percent of people in the United States are satisfied with President Obama’s handling of the situation in Ferguson, Mo., according to a new poll. 

The number recorded in the New York Times/CBS poll released Thursday nearly mirrors his overall approval rating nationwide, which stands at 43 percent in Gallup’s daily tracking poll. 

Thursday’s poll found another 34 percent are dissatisfied with the president’s reaction to the protests and clashes with police following the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer. 

{mosads}A quarter of people have no opinion. 

A recent Pew Research poll found the reaction to Ferguson broke down strongly along racial and political lines. That pattern holds with Obama’s rating. 

Sixty percent of African-Americans said they were satisfied with Obama’s handling of the situation, while 20 percent expressed dissatisfaction. While 59 percent of white Democrats are satisfied with his handling, 52 percent of white Republicans disagree. 

Obama has made a number of statements urging for calm in the St. Louis suburb. He sent Attorney General Eric Holder there Wednesday, where Holder talked to community leaders and received updates on the civil rights investigation the FBI is conducting. 

Only a quarter of African-Americans are satisfied with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s (D) handling of the situation, while about half disapprove. White Americans are split on his performance, with about a third each expressing satisfaction, dissatisfaction or no opinion. 

The survey polled 1,025 people from Aug. 19-20 and has a margin of error of 5 percentage points among white respondents and 8 points among black respondents.